| Summary: | ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Pancreatic fistula represents the most feared complication after pancreatoduodenectomies, being the major responsible for the high morbidity and mortality after this operation. Its incidence remains around 10% to 30%. In recent years, several authors have studied the value of amylase in abdominal drains fluid, measured at an early stage after the surgical procedure, as a useful tool to identify patients at risk of developing pancreatic fistula. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the value of early drain fluid amylase as a method to predict the occurrence and severity of postoperative pancreatic fistula in patients undergoing pancreatoduodenectomies. METHODS: We evaluated 102 prospective patients submitted to pancreatoduodenectomies from January 2013 to June 2017. The mensuration of amylase in abdominal drains was performed on days 1, 3, 5 and 7 in all patients. Patients were divided into three groups according to postoperative day 1 (POD1) results: values <270 U/L (group 1); between 271 and 5.000 U/L (group 2); and values >5.000 U/L (group 3). RESULTS: The incidence of pancreatic fistula was 25.5%, being 3.33%, 27.3% and 41.02% in the three groups, respectively. Compared with group 1, the risk of developing pancreatic fistula increased with increasing amylase values on POD1. Amylase values on POD1 and POD3 of patients with pancreatic fistula were higher than in the other ones without this complication (P<0.001). In addition, in group 3, 37.5% of patients with pancreatic fistula evolved to death (P<0.001). Finally, in this group, patients who died had drain fluid amylase values on POD1 significantly higher than the others in the same group (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Early drain fluid amylase value is a useful test to stratify patients in relation to the risk of developing pancreatic fistula after pancreatoduodenectomies, in addition to correlate with the severity of this complication.
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