[Acute haemorrhagic pancreatitis. Criteria of letality (author's transl)]

A retrospective study of severity symptoms in a series of 102 patients operated upon for acute haemorrhagic pancreatitis showed that the risk of death was much significantly higher when shock (p less than 0,00001) and renal failure (p less than 0,0001) were present. The association, during the post-operative period, of shock and renal failure with one of the following symptoms: digestive haemorrhage, psychic disorders, pulmonary oedema, post-operative peritonitis and evisceration invariably proved fatal. It is suggested that controlled therapeutic trials should be carried out in patients presenting with these complications.