Acute pancreatic necrosis

Summary and conclusions Thirty-two cases of acute pancreatic necrosis have been reported, including 20 fatal cases, 19 of which had postmortem studies.Alcoholism appeared to be a precipitating factor.Serum amylase determinations were not very helpful, being elevated in only 50 per cent of cases.Transient glycosuria and albuminuria were frequent. Elevated blood sugar occurred in about half of the cases and was a grave prognostic sign especially when associated with normal serum amylase studies.Other grave prognostic signs included old age, history of hypertension and diabetes, and the development of shock and hyperglycemia. The incidence of concurrent gallbladder disease was low.The over-all mortality was 62.5 per cent. All autopsied cases showed pancreatic necrosis, and the majority showed fatty metamorphosis of the liver.