This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Sign in
Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Severe acute pancreatitis

Authoring team

The patient with severe acute pancreatitis is still, grey and shocked.

Abdominal examination reveals signs of generalised peritonitis with extreme tenderness, guarding and rigidity. There is abdominal distension due to paralytic ileus and subcutaneous staining - in the flank (Grey-Turner's sign), peri-umbilical region (Cullen's sign), or less commonly, the infra-inguinal region (Fox's sign). Bowel sounds are absent.

Muscle twitches, cramps and spasm indicate hypocalcaemia.

The patient is hypovolaemic with sweating, tachycardia, and a decreased blood pressure and urinary output.

Reference

  1. Mederos MA, Reber HA, Girgis MD. Acute Pancreatitis: A Review. JAMA. 2021 Jan 26;325(4):382-90.

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page