Pathophysiology of Local Pancreatic Complications

About 20% of patients with acute pancreatitis develop a severe course of the disease marked by systemic inflammation, organ failure, and variable necrosis of the pancreatic parenchyma and peripancreatic soft tissue. Both of the widely used contemporary classification systems, the Revised Atlanta Criteria [1] and the Determinant Based Classification [2], recognize local complications as an important factor defining moderately severe, severe, and critical acute pancreatitis.