Abstract

Background: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common cause of hospitalization in gastroenterology. Drug-induced AP is a rare event, and only a few cases of corticosteroids induced AP are described in the literature.
Case Presentation: A 39-year-old woman with ankylosing spondylitis was hospitalized for an acute epigastric pain with vomiting 3 days after receiving a methylprednisolone bolus for an outbreak of her chronic disease. Her serum lipase concentration was found to be particularly elevated. She was then diagnosed of AP. An abdominal non-contrast CT demonstrated an exudative pancreatitis with a peripancreatic collection. The liver enzymes, her corrected calcium, and lipid profile were normal. An autoimmunity IgG4 screening was also found negative. The magnetic resonance imaging of the biliary tract found a normal pancreatic gland with a non-dilated common bile duct.
Conclusion: Due to the events chronology, the diagnosis of a methylprednisolone induced AP was retained after the exclusion of other causes of pancreatitis. It is important to think about this etiology when the most common causes have been ruled out.

Key words: Acute pancreatitis ; Methylprednisolone