Classification of pancreatitis: state-of-the-art, 1986

In 1983 and 1984 two international interdisciplinary groups convened for the purpose of improving the existing 1963 Marseille Classification of pancreatitis. In this article, the new classifications of pancreatitis resulting from these conferences are examined from the perspective of earlier efforts which preceded the Conference and a recent analysis of the usefulness, similarities, and differences between the two classifications by an International group of surgeons and gastroenterologists.