ASAP Study

ASAP: Audit of Severe Acute Pancreatitis Feeding Practices in Australasia

The ASAP Study was a 6-month observational study to assess the  feeding practice of patients with severe acute pancreatitis in  Australian and New Zealand intensive care units (ICUs). This study was  the first project developed by an ANZIC-RC Nutrition Research Fellow.

Goal: The ASAP Study benchmarked current practice and provided data for the design of a future randomised controlled trial.

Study Progress: The study was designed in 2007.  Patient recruitment commenced in March 2008 and was completed within 6  months with a total of 121 patients enrolled.

The preliminary results were presented at the Asia Pacific Critical  Care Congress and the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society  Clinical Trials Group (ANZICS-CTG)Scientific Meeting both held in Sydney  in October 2008.

The final results were presented in 2009 at the AuSPEN 's 35th Annual Scientific Meeting held in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The trial results were published as follows:

Davies AR, Morrison SS, Ridley EJ, Bailey M, Banks MD, Cooper DJ, Hardy G, McIlroy K, Thomson A, ASAP Study Investigators. Nutritional therapy in patients with acute pancreatitis requiring critical care unit management: a prospective observational study in Australia and New Zealand. Crit Care Med 2011;39:462-8. PMID: 21221003.

Funding: The ASAP Study was awarded funding by three  bodies: The Intensive Care Foundation (ICF), the Arthur A Thomas Trust,  and the Australasian Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition  (AuSPEN).