ABSTRACT
Acute pancreatitis and trauma to the pancreas can result in varying degrees of secondary injuries due to pancreatic and peripancreatic inflammatory processes. Patients with acute pancreatitis may have a mild form of the disease, which is associated with minimal organ dysfunction, and they typically undergo a rapid, uneventful recovery. Others may acquire a severe, necrotizing pancreatitis characterized by glandular necrosis and infection in association with failure of multiple organ systems, requiring weeks of treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU). Similarly, patients with pancreatic trauma may have a simple pancreatic contusion, which can be treated nonoperatively, or a severe pancreatic ductal disruption with associated injury to the duodenum or other vital structures requiring immediate surgeryandprolongedhospitalization.Whilemildpancreatic inflammation and injury are easily treated and carry a low rate of morbidity and mortality, fulminant pancreatic disease can be catastrophic and is associated with mortality rates up to 50% despite maximal medical and surgical therapy. It is an essential clinical challenge, therefore, not only to diagnose patients with these diseases, but also to rapidly identify that subset of patients with severe disease that will require management in the ICU and/or surgical treatment.
