[Artificial nutrition and acute pancreatitis: a review and update].

Most of acute pancreatitis cases present as mild cases for which nutritional support is not recommended provided the patient is able to restart normal oral intake within 5- days. By contrast, severe pancreatitis associates metabolic stress and requires early nutritional support. In these cases, enteral nutrition is recommended, which should be supplemented with parenteral nutrition if needed. Recent studies indicate that enteral nutrition may improve the course of severe acute pancreatitis, reduce its complications and promote a quicker improvement from the disease. Most of the patients tolerate oligomeric nutrition administered as continuous infusion distally to the Treitz' s angle. Recent studies show, however, that intragastric perfusion is safe and may be an adequate therapeutic option in particular patients with acute severe pancreatitis. Besides, specific agents added to the nutrition (immunomodulators and probiotics) seem to reduce hospital stay and infectious and non-infectious complications of acute pancreatitis.