Progress in acute pancreatitis

Pancreatic necrosis and sepsis are the major causes of death in instances of acute pancreatitis. No widely accepted definition of these conditions in individuals exists, and, yet, accurate differentiation is mandatory for effective therapy. A series of operational definitions conforming to known clinopathologic factors are proposed for the necrotizing septic complications of acute pancreatitis. These complications, as distinguished from acute interstitial pancreatitis, are fat sequestra, pancreatic necrosis, infected pancreatic necrosis, pancreatic abscess and acute pseudocyst. Imprecise definitions of these complications of necrotizing pancreatitis make inter-institutional comparisons of previously identified data dubious.