Effectiveness of an Intravenous Insulin–Based Treatment Protocol for the Management of Hypertriglyceridemia-Associated Acute Pancreatitis

Abstract

Background: There is burgeoning interest in intravenous insulin for hypertriglyceridemia-induced acute pancreatitis (HTG-AP) as a less invasive alternative to plasmapheresis; however, there are few published descriptions of disease-specific insulin protocols. Objective: To compare the efficacy and safety of an insulin infusion–based protocol with nonstandardized medical therapy for HTG-AP. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis before and after creation of an HTG-AP-specific insulin infusion treatment protocol. Inclusion criteria were age ≥18 years, an initial triglyceride level >1000 mg/dL, and a diagnosis of AP. The primary outcome of the study was time to a triglyceride level ≤1000 mg/dL. Results: Sixty-seven patients were included in this study (26 pre-protocol and 41 in the HTG-AP insulin protocol group). Baseline characteristics between the groups were similar, with median initial triglyceride levels >3500 mg/dL. There was a trend toward patients treated with the HTG-AP-specific infusion reaching a triglyceride level ≤1000 mg/dL faster (43.3 [24.9-72.1] vs 26.9 [17.7-51.1] hours; P = 0.07). Those treated to ≤500 mg/dL achieved this faster with the disease-specific infusion (49.2 [29.4-67.8] vs 70.9 [36.3-107.2] hours, P = 0.04). Hypoglycemia was numerically lower in the HTG-AP-specific insulin infusion group despite higher insulin infusion rates (7.3% vs 19.2%). No patient in the HTG-AP-specific protocol group required plasmapheresis. Conclusions: The use of an HTG-AP-specific insulin infusion protocol, compared with antecedent nonstandardized care, resulted in prompter achievement of a triglyceride level ≤500 mg/dL and a strong trend toward faster achievement of ≤1000 mg/dL without an increased risk of hypoglycemia. While intravenous insulin may be considered the initial medical therapy for HTG-AP, further studies are needed to determine the optimal dosing.