Background: Injuries to the pancreaticoduodenal complex present a significant challenge both in diagnosis and management. The retroperitoneal location of the pancreas means that it is not a common site of injury, but this also contributes to the difficulty in diagnosis. Objective: To evaluate changes of serum amylase level before the operation of pancreaticoduodenal injuries. Subjects and method: Prospective analysis of 156 patients with pancreaticoduodenal injuries from January 2000 to December 2006 was measured serum amylase level at admission. The factors analyzed in the study included age, gender, time elapsed from injury to admission, type of pancreaticoduodenal injuries according to The American Association for the Surgery of Trauma 1990. Results: The serum amylase level was found to be abnormal in all patients admitted more than 3 hours after trauma. Various comparisons between patients with elevated (78.2%) and nonelevated (26.3%) serum amylase levels showed the statistical significance solely of the time elapsed from injury to admission. The major factor that influenced the serum amylase level on admission appeared to be the time elapsed from injury to admission. Determination of the serum amylase level was no diagnosis within 3 hours or less after trauma, irrespective of the type of injury. Conclusions: To avoid failure in the detection of pancreaticoduodenal injuries, the authors advocate determination of serum amylase levels more than 3 hours after trauma.
Amylases/ diagnostic use ; Duodenal Diseases/ diagnosis ; Pancreatic Ducts/ injuries

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Combination therapy of pegylated interferon-alpha (PEG-IFN-α) and ribavirin (RBV) is a current standard treatment for chronic HCV infection in Korea, which has considerable adverse effects. Acute pancreatitis is a rare complication of PEG-IFN-α administration. We report a case of a 62-year-old female who experienced acute pancreatitis after 4 weeks of PEG-IFN-α-2a and RBV combination therapy for chronic HCV infection. The main cause of the acute pancreatitis in this case was probably PEG-IFN-α rather than RBV for several reasons. A few cases have been reported in which acute pancreatitis occurred during treatment with PEG-IFN-α-2b. This is the first report of acute pancreatitis associated with PEG-IFN-α-2a in Korea.
Amylases/analysis ; Antiviral Agents/adverse effects/*therapeutic use ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Female ; Hepatitis C, Chronic/diagnostic imaging/*drug therapy ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha/adverse effects/*therapeutic use ; Lipase/analysis ; Middle Aged ; Pancreatitis/*etiology ; Polyethylene Glycols/adverse effects/*therapeutic use ; Recombinant Proteins/adverse effects/therapeutic use ; Republic of Korea ; Ribavirin/therapeutic use ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed