title: Comparison of integrated Chinese and Western medicine with and without somatostatin supplement in the treatment of severe acute pancreatitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the therapeutic effect of the combined use of early short-term somatostatin and conventional integrated Chinese and Western medicine in treating severe acute pancreatitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty patients with severe acute pancreatitis were divided at random into a somatostatin group and a basic treatment group. Both groups received integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine without surgery. For patients in the somatostatin group, somatostatin was infused intravenously 250 microg/h for 72 h; other medications were the same as in the basic treatment group. In both groups, comparisons of therapeutic effectiveness were made in terms of morbidity of organic dysfunction and mortality rate, and severity of the disease according to serum levels of C-reaction protein, scores of acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE II), and scores of Balthazar-CT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The indexes for C-reaction protein levels on the fourth and seventh days, and APACHE II scores on the seventh day after treatment, were significantly improved in the somatostatin group than in the basic treatment group. The morbidity of organic dysfunction was lower in the somatostatin group than in the basic treatment group, although the difference was not statistically significant. There was no significant difference in mortality between the two groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that combined traditional Chinese and Western medicines with an early short-term use of somatostatin can improve the condition of patients with severe acute pancreatitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Midicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 37 Guoxuexiang, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China. xiaqing@medmail.com.cn
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Xiao-Nan
authors.initials: XN
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Wen-Fu
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Jun-Ming
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D018806:APACHE; D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013004:Somatostatin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019366:Western World
chemical_list: D013004:Somatostatin; D002097:C-Reactive Protein
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