High-dose Intravenous Vitamin C for the Treatment of Severe Acute Pancreatitis

This study is a prospective, randomized, double-blinded, parallel-controlled, multi-central clinical trial for patients with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). Patients with SAP in the early stage (within 7 days of onset) and over the age of 18, based on the routine treatment, will be randomly divided into a high-dose intravenous vitamin C group (HDIVC, 500mg/kg/24h, administered by iv. pump at a rate of 2g/h for 7 days) and a control group (an equal volume of normal saline). The primary endpoint is mortality rate in ICU, and secondary endpoints include free organ support duration (FOSD) within 14 days after enrollment, changes in inflammatory response and severity, disease severity scores and changes, fluid retention, incidence of infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN), ICU mortality, pancreatic necrosis scores, monitoring of vitamin C plasma concentrations before and after HDIVC use, composition of gut microbiota, observation of vitamin C-related adverse reactions. The study hypothesis is that HDIVC can reduce mortality rate in ICU, significantly decrease the FOSD within 14 days and significantly reduce inflammatory response, decrease fluid retention, and improve disease severity.