Severity Scoring for Prognostication in Patients With Severe Acute Pancreatitis

Abstract

THE DIAGNOSIS and treatment of acute pancreatitis continue to evolve. Most patients with acute pancreatitis require only a short-term hospital stay and have limited morbidity. If cholelithiasis is the cause of the pancreatitis, patients usually undergo laparoscopic cholecystectomy during the same hospitalization. However, a few patients with acute pancreatitis will develop a more serious illness, with increased morbidity and mortality. Most of the morbidity and virtually all of the mortality are concentrated in patients with the disease process described as severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). Because the major complications of pancreatitis generally occur in patients with SAP, much attention has been directed toward predicting the severity and clinical course of this entity. Early recognition that a patient with pancreatitis may harbor SAP is important because these patients may need more aggressive resuscitation and have more serious complications that require operative intervention than other patients with pancreatitis.