Outpatient Versus Inpatient Management of Mild Acute Pancreatitis

Starting soon · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Acute Pancreatitis (AP), Biliary Pancreatitis

In brief

Acute pancreatitis is a sudden inflammation of the pancreas that causes severe abdominal pain. Most cases are mild and get better within a few days with basic supportive treatment such as fluids and pain relief. Currently, all patients with acute pancreatitis are admitted to hospital, even those with a very low risk of complications. This study will test whether patients with mild acute pancreatitis can be safely sent home with close follow-up (telephone calls on days 1, 2, and 3 after discharge and a clinic visit on day 4) instead of staying in hospital. Patients will be randomly assigned to either home management or standard hospitalization. We will compare the rate of treatment failure at 30 days between the two groups. We expect that home management will be as safe as hospitalization, while being more convenient for patients and less costly for the health system.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT07643961

Run by

Center for Traumatology and Major Burns, Ben Arous

People needed

150

Starts

2026-07-01

Expected to finish

2027-03-31

Last updated by the study team

2026-07-10

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Age 18 years or older Diagnosis of acute pancreatitis based on at least two of three revised Atlanta (2012) criteria: characteristic abdominal pain; serum lipase or amylase ≥3× upper limit of normal; or characteristic imaging findings Classification as mild acute pancreatitis: SIRS score = 0 and HAPS score = 0 at emergency department presentation Ability to tolerate oral intake at the time of randomisation Provision of written informed consent Presence of a competent caregiver at home Residence within 30-45 minutes' travel time from the hospital Ability to communicate by telephone

You may not qualify if…

• Pregnancy or breastfeeding Inability to maintain oral intake for reasons unrelated to acute pancreatitis Acute pancreatitis attributable to tumour, post-ERCP intervention, or abdominal trauma Concurrent choledocholithiasis with or without cholangitis Chronic pancreatitis or history of recurrent acute pancreatitis (≥2 prior episodes) ASA physical status classification ≥ 3 Clinical or radiological features suggesting moderately severe or severe acute pancreatitis Alcohol withdrawal syndrome No competent caregiver at home Residence more than 30-45 minutes from the hospital Inability to communicate by telephone or equivalent means

Where it is running

• Traumatology and great burns center — Ben Arous, Tunisia, Tunisia

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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