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Case Reports
. 2021 Jun 5;13(6):e15470.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.15470. eCollection 2021 Jun.

Heroin-Induced Acute Pancreatitis

Camelia Ciobanu  1 , Raja Shekar Jadav  2   3 , Ana Colon Ramos  3 , Harry G Sequeira Gross  3 , Carlos Brazzarola  4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Heroin-Induced Acute Pancreatitis

Camelia Ciobanu et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Heroin-induced pancreatitis (HIP) is rare with only a few cases reported previously in the literature and the pathophysiology mechanism is yet to be investigated. We present two cases of acute pancreatitis (AP) in the setting of acute heroin (diacetylmorphine) intoxication. Both patients presented with nausea, vomiting and severe abdominal pain after intranasal heroin use. On laboratory analysis were found to have elevated serum lipase, positive urine toxicology for opioids, without any other obvious causes for AP. Both patients had a full recovery with supportive treatment. As a general approach, drug-induced pancreatitis is a diagnosis of exclusion and a high index of suspicion is required when the most common etiologies are ruled out.

Keywords: acute pancreatitis; drug induced pancreatitis; heroin induced pancreatitis; heroin use disorder; opioids.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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