To investigate the pathogenesis, early diagnosis and treatment of pregnancy complicating acute pancreatitis (AP).

We performed a retrospective analysis study on the clinical features, laboratory data, and outcomes in 23 pregnancy women complicating AP, who were treated in Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology from January 2008 to December 2012. All patients were divided into 2 groups, mild AP (MAP) group and sever AP (SAP) group. There were16 pregnancies in mild AP (MAP) group and 7 pregnancies in severe AP (SAP) group. Fisher′s exact probabilities were used to compare categorical data.

In the 23 patients, 8 patients (34.8%) had biliary disease and 9 patients (39.1%) had hyperlipidemia. Patients with hyperglycemia in SAP group were significantly increased than in MAP group (100% vs 12.5%, P=0.000). Twelve pregnancies delivered in the third trimester of pregnancy, and their newborns were alive. One patient induced labor in the first trimester and another one induced labor in the second trimester. One patient died of multiple organ failure and resulted in intrauterine death. The other 8 patients were completely cured and discharged from the hospital.

Biliary disease and hyperlipidemia were related with pregnancy complicating AP. Early diagnosis, individual treatment and timely termination of pregnancy should be an effective way to increase the curative ratio.