A rare case of emphysematous pancreatitis: managing a killer without the knife

Emphysematous pancreatitis (EP) is a rare and severe complication of acute pancreatitis carrying a high mortality with only a handful of case reports and small studies reporting these cases and their management. The presence of emphysematous pancreatitis is often indicative of infected pancreatic necrosis with the mainstay of treatment being pancreatic necrosectomy; however there are cases where it may be appropriate to have a trial of conservative management, and there is a small body of evidence to support this. This paper describes a case of an 87-year-old male with acute emphysematous pancreatitis successfully managed with conservative cares.