Antioxidant therapy in the management of acute, chronic and post-ERCP pancreatitis: a systematic review.
We systematically reviewed the clinical trials which recruited antioxidants in the therapy of pancreatitis and evaluated whether antioxidants improve the outcome of patients with pancreatitis. Electronic bibliographic databases were searched for any studies which investigated the use of antioxidants in the management of acute pancreatitis (AP) or chronic pancreatitis (CP) and in the prevention of post-endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography (post-ERCP) pancreatitis (PEP) up to February 2009. Twenty-two randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trials met our criteria and were included in the review. Except for a cocktail of antioxidants which showed improvement in outcomes in three different clinical trials, the results of the administration of other antioxidants in both AP and CP clinical trials were incongruent and heterogeneous. Furthermore, antioxidant therapy including allopurinol and N-acetylcysteine failed to prevent the onset of PEP in almost all trials. In conclusion, the present data do not support a benefit of antioxidant therapy alone or in combination with conventional therapy in the management of AP, CP or PEP. Further double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials with large sample size need to be conducted.
Mohseni Salehi Monfared
Seyed Sajad
SS
Vahidi
Hamed
H
Abdolghaffari
Amir Hossein
AH
Nikfar
Shekoufeh
S
Abdollahi
Mohammad
M
D000208:Acute Disease; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002760:Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D050500:Pancreatitis, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000517:prevention & control
D000975:Antioxidants