ABSTRACT
Acute pancreatitis can be a life-threatening inammatory disease with an incidence of about 50 to 80 cases per 100,000 population per year.1,2
The clinical patterns of acute pancreatitis varies from mild disease to severe necrotizing pancreatitis with local and/or systemic complications. Classifying acute pancreatitis by the Atlanta criteria (denition of severity) of 1992, approximately 80% of patients will have a mild, self-limited disease with a mortality rate below 1%.3,4 The morbidity and mortality increases up to 50% if the disease progresses to severe necrotizing pancreatitis and can further increase up to 80% if sepsis occurs.5,6
16.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 253 16.2 Outcome Predictors ......................................................................................254
