[Clinical aspects and classification of acute pancreatitis]

Clinically acute pancreatitis is characterized by severe abdominal pain and systemic symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting and circulatory shock. In most cases the diagnosis is verified, and differential diagnoses are excluded, by elevated serum enzyme activities as well as characteristic findings in imaging procedures. The mild form of acute pancreatitis (about 80%) is characterized by an uncomplicated course and recovery within 72 hours in response to adequate therapy. By contrast, severe pancreatitis (about 20%) shows formation of necroses and a protracted course which frequently is dominated by development of systemic complications with subsequent failure of individual or several organ systems. On this background, early discrimination between mild and severe pancreatitis is important for therapeutic management and assessment of prognosis. Several classifications have been suggested in recent years but their use has been limited because they partly depend on complicated multiscoring systems. On the other hand, it has been possible to establish simple severity markers such as serum CRP and PMN-elastase that correlate well with further clinical course and outcome.