Acute Pancreatitis

Regardless of its etiology, acute pancreatitis is a severe, even life-threatening disease. The etiologic agents in patients with acute pacreatitis are generally known, yet the exact pathogenetic mechanisms, which trigger activation of pancreatic enzymes within pancreas, and are crucial to the course of the disease, are still unclear. Etiologic treatment of the disease has not yet been defined. The present therapy therefore emphasizes supportive measures and aims to maintain the patient’s vital functions and control complications. In patients with acute gallstone pancreatitis and other conditions causing obstruction to the flow of bile and pancreatic secretion into the duodenum, outstanding results have been obtained by new interventional techniques and modern imaging studies. The same applies to all life-threatening complications of acute pancreatitis. These novel treatment modalities have markedly reduced the range of indications for emergency surgery in patients with acute pancreatitis. New percutaneous and endoscopic interventional techniques, as well as new forms of medical treatment are being developed.