Although the nutritional management of patients with severe acutepancreatitis has been well established by the available evidence, little attention has beenpaid to optimizing the dietary management of mild acute pancreatitis. The aim of this studyis to evaluate the effect of early initiation of oral nutrition in these patients.8Methods: A descriptive comparative case series in which we compare the progress andoutcome of management of patients with acute pancreatitis before and after initiating aprotocol of early oral nutrition.Results: The series included 13 patients managed with conventional restitution ofnutrition by mouth and 9 patients with early restitution of nutrition by mouth oralnutrition. There were no statistically significant differences in etiology, clinicalcharacteristics, and demographic differences between the groups. There were no cases ofprogression to severe disease in either group. The occurrence of gastrointestinal symptomslike vomiting and pain after the start of the diet was similar in both groups.Conclusions: The restoration of oral nutrition based in preset criteria (pain intensity ofless than 4 and a period longer than 6 hours after the last episode emetic) is safe andreduces the initial fasting period but not the hospital stay.
