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Abstract
[1] Severe AP typically presents with epigastric pain, abdominal distention, vomiting, and constipation at the early stage and is similar to the Yangming-Fushi syndrome of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). [...]the potential mechanism of LHD in the treatment of severe AP has not been elucidated. [...]the present study sought to evaluate the effect of LHD on AP patients and preliminarily investigate its anti-inflammatory mechanism. Methods Study design and ethics This study was performed in patients hospitalized with predicted severe AP from January to December 2011 at the Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Pancreatitis Center, West China Hospital. Serum white blood cell count, procalcitonin, interleukin (IL)-6, and C-reactive protein (CRP) were recorded at day 7 or at discharge (if < 7 days). Endpoints were duration of abdominal pain, time to oral refeeding, length of hospital stay, local complications, organ failure, infection, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission, surgery, and mortality. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to determine the pattern of data distribution, the Student's unpaired t-test was used to compare normally distributed data between two groups, and Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were used for quantitative data analysis.