Role of ultrasonographic monitoring of diaphragmatic function in early assessment of patients with acute pancreatitis

Objective To explore the role of ultrasound monitoring of diaphragmatic function(fraction of diaphragmatic thickening and diaphragmatic mobility) in early assessment of patients with acute pancreatitis(AP).

Methods The AP patients from the emergency were divided into the severe AP(SAP) group(40 cases) and N-SAP group(55 cases) according to the severity of illness.The general data, DTei, DTee, DTF, calm breathing mobility and deep breathing mobility were compared between two groups at admission.The Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlations between DTF and APACHE Ⅱ score, Ranson score, MCTSI, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to was used to evaluate the value of DTF in AP disease.

Results After admission, there was no statistical significance in the age, gender, DTei and DTee between two groups(P>0.05).The APACHE Ⅱ score, Ranson score and MCTSI in the SAP group were significantly higher than those in the N-SAP group(P < 0.01).The DTF, calm breathing mobility and deep breathing mobility in the SAP group were lower than those in the N-SAP group(P < 0.05).The DTF was negatively correlated with the APACHE Ⅱ score, Ranson score and MCTSI(r=-0.503, r=-0.557, r=-0.557, P < 0.01), and the area under ROC curve of DTF was 0.799.

Conclusions The role of ultrasonic monitoring of diaphragm function(DTF and diaphragm mobility) in the early assessment of AP patients has guiding value for the early assessment of AP disease.