Young woman with signs of pancreatitis (epigastric abdominal pain with nausea/vomiting) and elevated amylase, most consistent with acute pancreatitis
Diagnosis of acute pancreatitis requires 2/3: (1) Acute epigastric pain radiating to the back (2) Increased serum amylase or lipase to at least 3X upper limit of normal (3) Characteristic imaging findings
Key idea: Two most common causes of acute pancreatitis are gallstones and alcohol, so in this patient who had a cholecystectomy and does not use alcohol, we would think of other potential causes such as hypertriglyceridemia, hypercalcemia (this patient has normal calcium), steroids, autoimmune pancreatitis, post-ERCP, drugs (diuretics, IBD drugs, anticonvulsants, etc.)
trevor663I believe it is acute pancreatitis secondary to hypertriglyceridemia from the cholecystectomy. Could be wrong, but thats where I went with the increased amylase, although not specific for pancreatitis, and epigastric pain in an acutely ill patient. +
step_prep5Two most common causes of acute pancreatitis are gallstones and alcohol, so in this patient who had a cholecystectomy and does not use alcohol, we would think of other potential causes such as hypertriglyceridemia, hypercalcemia (this patient has normal calcium), steroids, autoimmune pancreatitis, post-ERCP, drugs (diuretics, IBD drugs, anticonvulsants, etc.)+1
submitted by โstep_prep5(246)
https://step-prep.org/tutoring/