Evaluation of intestinal mucosal permeability function in patients with acute pancreatitis

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2006.02.001 Byline: Kamal Nagpal (a), Vivek Ratna Minocha (b), Vivek Agrawal (b), Suman Kapur (c) Keywords: Gut permeability; Acute pancreatitis Abstract: This study aims to evaluate the intestinal mucosal permeability in patients with acute pancreatitis. The lactulose:mannitol (L:M) ratio was used to assess permeability. It is an inexpensive and quite reliable method. The intestinal permeability was increased in patients with acute pancreatitis compared with the controls. In addition, patients with severe pancreatitis had higher intestinal barrier dysfunction compared with patients with mild pancreatitis, the L:M ratio being .2 and .029, respectively. It was also concluded that the permeability increased gradually over the course of pancreatitis and was maximum at day 7 (P < .01). This provides a window of opportunity for therapeutic intervention to prevent the late observed increase in intestinal permeability. Author Affiliation: (a) 37 Arklow Road, Doncaster DN2 5LB, United Kingdom (b) Department of Surgery, University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Delhi, India (c) Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences, Delhi, India Article History: Received 30 May 2005; Revised 5 February 2006