ABSTRACT
The association between alcohol ingestion and inflammatory disease of the pancreas has been recognised for almost a century. Alcohol may cause both acute and chronic inflammation, and while clinicians have recently become more aware of this association, there has almost certainly been a true increase in the incidence of alcohol-related pancreatic disease, as one of the physical manifestations of the increasing problem of alcohol abuse in our society. This chapter reviews the mechanisms, clinical features and complications of alcohol associated acute pancreatitis. Acute renal failure is an early hazard, and carries a high mortality. Drug therapy in acute pancreatitis is limited largely to analgesia, and large doses of pethidine may be required. Alcohol increases gastrin and acid output by the stomach which in turn gives rise to an increased secretin level, producing a high volume bicarbonate-rich pancreatic secretion.
