JRSM > Volume 96, Number 5 > Pp. 228-229

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Send a Quick Comment Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Quick Comments are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Stiff, R. E Articles by Torkington, J Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Social Bookmarking                      What's this?

Hypothermia and acute pancreatitis: myth or reality?

Rh E Stiff MB BSc   G J Morris-Stiff MD FRCS     J Torkington MD FRCS  

Department of Surgery, University Hospital of Wales, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XN, UK

Correspondence to: Dr Rhianwen Stiff, 26 Canada Road, Heath, Cardiff CF14 3BW, UK E-mail: rhianwenstiff{at}hotmail.com

Among the rarer causes of acute pancreatitis listed in surgical texts is hypothermia. To assess the evidence for cause and effect, we questioned selected consultants about their experience and examined the case-notes of patients admitted with hypothermia.

The 31 consultants who returned our questionnaire (69% response rate; 317 consultant-years' experience) could recall only 5 cases of pancreatitis associated with hypothermia, in 2 of which other aetiological factors were judged primary. In case-notes for 100 months of emergency admissions at a single hospital we identified 310 patients with hypothermia and 1153 with acute pancreatitis; none had the dual diagnosis. Of the hypothermic patients, none had abdominal pain typical of acute pancreatitis. In 43 serum amylase was measured because the patient was unable to give a full history and in 2 of these the enzyme was slightly raised; both had experienced a cerebrovascular accident, which is a known cause of hyperamylasaemia.

Considered alongside the weak evidence from previous studies, these findings offer negligible support for the idea that hypothermia is a clinically relevant risk factor for acute pancreatitis.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J E Alty and H L Ford Multi-system complications of hypothermia: a case of recurrent episodic hypothermia with a review of the pathophysiology of hypothermia Postgrad. Med. J., June 1, 2008; 84(992): 282 - 286. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Minerva BMJ, May 10, 2003; 326(7397): 1044 - 1044. [Full Text] [PDF]