Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Oct;29(10):1167-1174.
doi: 10.14744/tjtes.2023.06486.

What has changed? The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management of acute biliary pancreatitis

Zeliha Türkyılmaz  1 , Tugrul Demirel  1 , İbrahim Ethem Cakcak  1 , Yusuf Emre Aytin  1
Affiliations

What has changed? The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management of acute biliary pancreatitis

Zeliha Türkyılmaz et al. Ulus Travma Acil Cerrahi Derg. 2023 Oct.

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic thoroughly changed the daily practices of medicine. We retrospectively evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our management strategies for patients with acute biliary pancreatitis (ABP).

Methods: A total of 91 patients with ABP who were treated at Trakya University Faculty of Medicine between March 15, 2019 and March 15, 2021 were retrospectively recruited. Patients were classified as pre-COVID and COVID-era patients. The comorbidity markers, data from laboratory tests, inflammatory markers, and radiological examinations were evaluated. Length of stay, need for an intensive care unit, morbidity, mortality, recurrent ABP, and definitive treatment rates were evaluated, and the data of the two periods were compared.

Results: Two groups of patients, 57 in the pre-COVID period and 34 in the COVID period, were included in the study. We found that ABP admissions decreased significantly during periods of increased national COVID-19 diagnoses. Type 2 diabetes mellitus was significantly higher in the COVID period patients (P=0.044), and COVID patients had significantly higher total (P=0.004), direct bili-rubin (P=0.007), and lipases (P<0.001). The cholecystectomy rate after an attack decreased from 26% in the pre-COVID period to 15.6% during COVID.

Conclusion: COVID strikingly reduced the admissions of ABP patients in the early stages of the disease to hospitals, leading to inevitable admissions in advanced severity. Moreover, a significant increase was detected in the recurrence rates of ABP. This can be explained by the reduction in cholecystectomy performed.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of ABP cases by months in the pre-COVID period2 (b)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of ABP cases 11 by months in the COVID period
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of monthly average COVID cases by months
Figure 4
Figure 4
Ranson scores of cases in the Pre-COVID and COVID period
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Myles PS, Maswime S. Mitigating the risks of surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet. 2020;396:2–3. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Westgard BC, Morgan MW, Vazquez-Benitez G, Erickson LO, Zwank MD. An analysis of changes in emergency department visits after a state declaration during the time of COVID-19. Ann Emerg Med. 2020;76:595–601. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nourazari S, Davis SR, Granovsky R, Austin R, Straff DJ, Joseph JW, et al. Decreased hospital admissions through emergency departments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Am J Emerg Med. 2021;42:203–10. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chang KJ. Identifying a biliary origin of acute pancreatitis using CT. Radiology. 2022;302:127–8. - PubMed
    1. Prasanth J, Prasad M, Mahapatra SJ, Krishna A, Prakash O, Garg PK, et al. Early versus delayed cholecystectomy for acute biliary pancreatitis:A systematic review and meta-analysis. World J Surg. 2022;46:1359–75. - PubMed