Handbook of Acute Pancreatitis

Acute Pancreatitis (AP) is also known as acute pancreatic necrosis. Nearly 80% of incidents appear as an alternate complexity linked with gallstone disease and alcohol misuse, although there are many other reasons which lead to this condition. These can be metabolism, genetics, autoimmunity, post-ERCP, and trauma for instance. This disease is usually linked with the abrupt onset of upper abdominal pain that is generally severe enough to force the patient to search for urgent medical attention. This results in an associated mortality rate of 7-30% that has not altered in past few years. Treatment is conventional and is usually performed by experienced teams, often in ICUs. Although most cases of acute pancreatitis are not very severe and resolve instinctively, the presence of complications has a noteworthy prognostic importance. Necrosis, hemorrhage, and infection carry up to 25%, 50%, and 80% mortality, respectively while other complications like pseudocyst formation, pseudo-aneurysm formation, or venous thrombosis, raise morbidity and mortality to a lesser degree. Therefore, existence of pancreatic infection must be avoided at the earliest to prevent any further complications in health.