A rare case of pancreatitis following scoliosis correction

Abstract

Acute pancreatitis following major spinal surgery is a rare potential complication. Several mechanisms such as positioning, intraoperative haemodynamic instability, mechanical compression and prolonged surgery can contribute to it. This should be suspected in a patient presenting with gastrointestinal symptoms, signs and raised serum amylase or lipase. Our case report is of a young patient with low BMI developing postoperative acute pancreatitis after single stage correction of right thoracic idiopathic scoliosis at National Hospital of Sri Lanka. Early identification of complications plays a key role in preventing severe morbidity after scoliosis surgery. When symptoms and signs are suggestive of abdominal complications, biochemical markers have to be analyzed for prompt diagnosis. Multidisciplinary approach and imaging are further steps in the differential diagnosis and management of this rare complication.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of acute pancreatitis following spinal surgery: a systematic review

“…The risk of bias assessment of eligible studies was performed using the Downs and Black checklist, which is a valid and a reliable tool for assessing both randomized and non-randomized control studies (external validity, KR20 ¼ 0.54; internal consistency, KR20 ¼ 0.89), 13 and the findings are presented in Table S1. 8,10,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]…”