Epidural anaesthesia restores pancreatic microcirculation and decreases the severity of acute pancreatitis

Figure 2 Pancreatic microcirculatory blood flow (arbitrary units). In Group 1, the mean value of pancreatic blood flow measured prior to and after induction of AP showed a significant decrease of perfusion from 141 ± 40 units to 9 ± 6 units (96%) (¹P = 0.008) within 30 min. In Group 2, the mean value of pancreatic blood flow measured prior to and after induction of epidural anaesthesia showed no significant modification of perfusion. In Group 3, mean value of pancreatic blood flow measured prior to and after induction of AP, and epidural anaesthesia, respectively. Induction of AP caused a significant decrease in pancreatic microcirculatory flow from 155 ± 25 units to 11 ± 7 units (93%) (²P = 0.004). After induction of epidural anesthesia, mean pancreatic microcirculatory blood flow increased again significantly to 81 ± 31 units within 45 min, reaching 52% of base line values (³P = 0.028).