OBJECTIVETo investigate the changing trends of clinical management for severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) with integrative medicine.

METHODSClinical data of 1 561 patients with SAP from 1980 to 2005 was retrospectively analyzed. The mortality and morbidity of complications were compared.

RESULTSOf the 1 561 patients, 400 patients accepted surgical operation, while the rest were treated conservatively with integrative medicine. There was a change toward conservative management together with Chinese purgative herbal medication use after 1990 (22.4% from 1980-1990 compared with 45.5% from 1991-1993) because of high postoperative mortality. From 1994-2005, the treatment integrating Western medicine with Chinese herbal medications came to be preferred over the classic Western operation-based method. This change was associated with decreased morbidity (35.4% in 1980-1990 compared with 24.7% in 1991-1993 and 11.0% in 1994-2005, P<0.05) and lower mortality (40.52% of 1980-1990 compared with 17.17% of 1991-1993 and <10.25% of 1994-2005, P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe combination of conservative management with Chinese herbal medicines is preferable to classic Western medicine treatment to reduce morbidity and mortality of SAP, while surgery becomes a supplemental option.