• A common presentation and a surgical emergency
  • Results from an inflammatory process in the pancreas leading to a multisystem disease characterized by a systemic inflammatory response and multi-organ dysfunction syndrome

 

Pancreatitis is typically established by the presence of two of the following criteria:

 

1. Abdominal pain consistent with the disease

2. Serum amylase and/or lipase greater than three times the upper limit of normal

3. Characteristic findings from abdominal imaging