Pathophysiology of Acute Pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis is a common clinical entity that follows a variable course ranging from mild abdominal pain to multisystem organ failure and death. There are numerous known causes of acute pancreatitis, all of which are thought to precipitate the disease by causing acinar cell injury. Although acinar injury may be a common trigger for pancreatitis, the mechanisms linking causal entities to induction of cellular injury remain unclear. Similar to the variability of clinical presentation, the pattern of pancreatic pathology following injury can manifest in many ways including: simple edema, necrosis, pseudocysts, and abscesses.