Comparative evaluation of a high lipase pancreatic enzyme preparation and a standard pancreatic supplement for treating exocrine pancreatic insufficiency in chronic pancreatitis

Objective: To compare the efficacy and safety of two enzyme-containing preparations, Pancrease HL (Cilag) containing 25,000 units of lipase per capsule and Creon (Triosol) with 8000 units of lipase per capsule, in patients with chronic pancreatitis and exocrine insufficiency.

Design: The study is a monocentric open crossover prospective study including 25 patients entered from March 1993 to May 1994.

Patients: Chronic pancreatitis was alcohol-related in 23 patients, previous surgery was performed in 9, 16 had diabetes and all had steatorrhoea (fat balance > 10g/24h).

Methods: Patients were investigated during four periods of 2 weeks, each one corresponding to a new treatment regimen: Pancrease HL, 3 capsules/day or Creon, 9 capsules/day, with or without omeprazole 20 mg/day. Stools were collected on the last 3 days at the end of each period when the patients were on a standard diet with a fixed daily intake of 100 g fat/day.

Results: Faecal fat, protein and energy excretion did not differ when both preparations were compared at roughly pharmaceutically equivalent doses. No significant improvement in fat and protein absorption was observed when omeprazole was taken with the pancreatic enzymes. However, omeprazole treatment was associated with a marked decrease in the fat-protein content ratio, suggesting an improvement in the fat digestive process but a decrease in the efficiency of protein digestion. Drug safety was comparable in the four groups of treatment.

Conclusion: Pancrease HL with high lipase activity provides effective pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy in patients with chronic pancreatitis at an appreciably lower number of capsules per day than with standard preparations.

Similar articles

Whitcomb DC, Lehman GA, Vasileva G, Malecka-Panas E, Gubergrits N, Shen Y, Sander-Struckmeier S, Caras S. Whitcomb DC, et al. Am J Gastroenterol. 2010 Oct;105(10):2276-86. doi: 10.1038/ajg.2010.201. Epub 2010 May 25. Am J Gastroenterol. 2010. PMID: 20502447 Clinical Trial.

Pap A, Szilágyi V, Marosi E. Pap A, et al. Orv Hetil. 1997 Mar 9;138(10):601-4. Orv Hetil. 1997. PMID: 9157336 Hungarian.

Gubergrits N, Malecka-Panas E, Lehman GA, Vasileva G, Shen Y, Sander-Struckmeier S, Caras S, Whitcomb DC. Gubergrits N, et al. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2011 May;33(10):1152-61. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2036.2011.04631.x. Epub 2011 Mar 21. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2011. PMID: 21418260 Clinical Trial.

Ferrone M, Raimondo M, Scolapio JS. Ferrone M, et al. Pharmacotherapy. 2007 Jun;27(6):910-20. doi: 10.1592/phco.27.6.910. Pharmacotherapy. 2007. PMID: 17542772 Review.

Heijerman HG. Heijerman HG. Neth J Med. 1992 Oct;41(3-4):105-9. Neth J Med. 1992. PMID: 1470278 Review.

Cited by

Shimizu K, Ito T, Irisawa A, Ohtsuka T, Ohara H, Kanno A, Kida M, Sakagami J, Sata N, Takeyama Y, Tahara J, Hirota M, Fujimori N, Masamune A, Mochida S, Enomoto N, Shimosegawa T, Koike K. Shimizu K, et al. J Gastroenterol. 2022 Oct;57(10):709-724. doi: 10.1007/s00535-022-01911-6. Epub 2022 Aug 22. J Gastroenterol. 2022. PMID: 35994093 Free PMC article. Review.

de la Iglesia-García D, Huang W, Szatmary P, Baston-Rey I, Gonzalez-Lopez J, Prada-Ramallal G, Mukherjee R, Nunes QM, Domínguez-Muñoz JE, Sutton R; NIHR Pancreas Biomedical Research Unit Patient Advisory Group. de la Iglesia-García D, et al. Gut. 2017 Aug;66(8):1354-1355. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2016-312529. Epub 2016 Dec 9. Gut. 2017. PMID: 27941156 Free PMC article. Review.

Krishnamurty DM, Rabiee A, Jagannath SB, Andersen DK. Krishnamurty DM, et al. Ther Clin Risk Manag. 2009 Jun;5(3):507-20. doi: 10.2147/tcrm.s3196. Epub 2009 Jul 12. Ther Clin Risk Manag. 2009. PMID: 19707261 Free PMC article.