Study on Lactated Ringers in Acute Pancreatitis

Recent pilot trials in acute pancreatitis (AP) found that lactated ringers (LR) usage may result in decreased risk of moderately severe/severe AP compared with normal saline, but their small sample sizes limit statistical power.

In a recent study, researchers investigated whether lactated Ringer's (LR) solution improves outcomes in 999 patients with a history of acute pancreatitis (AP). According to this study, using the LR solution during the first 24 hours of hospitalization is associated with reduced odds of moderately severe/severe AP compared with normal saline usage after adjusting for confounding variables.

According to a recent pilot trial, researchers have shown that in acute pancreatitis patients, lactated ringers (LR) decreases the risk of moderately severe/severe AP compared to normal saline. The main limitation of these studies is related to small sample sizes limiting statistical power.

In this study, the team investigated whether LR usage improves outcomes in AP in those patients enrolled at 22 international sites (2015 - 2018). The key findings of the study are:

• The mean age of 999 patients was 51 years, including 52% females and 24% moderately severe/severe AP.
• Compared to normal saline, using LR during the first 24 hours reduced the odds of moderately severe/severe AP (adjusting for the region of enrollment, aetiology, BMI, and fluid volume).
• The team observed similar results in sensitivity analyses eliminating the effects of admission organ failure, aetiology, and excessive total fluid volume.

They said, “Our study found that LR solution administration in the first 24 hours of hospitalization is tied to less severe AP.”

This study, “Lactated Ringers Use in the First 24 Hours of Hospitalization Is Associated with Improved Outcomes in 999 Patients with Acute Pancreatitis”, led by Dr. Lee, Peter J et al. and colleagues, is published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Further investigations are warranted to confirm these findings in a large-scale randomized clinical trial.

Further Reading

Lactated Ringers Use in the First 24 Hours of Hospitalization