Acute pancreatitis is defined as autodigestion of the exocrine pancreas by its own prematurely activated proteolytic (trypsin, carboxypeptidase) and lipolytic (lipase) enzymes, producing local and systemic inflammation. Within the domain of pathology and internal medicine, the disease is understood through its diverse etiologies (toxic, obstructive, metabolic, infectious, vascular, traumatic, and hereditary), its enzymatic and laboratory correlates, and a severity-scoring framework (Ranson's criteria) that stratifies mortality risk based on admission and 48-hour physiologic parameters. It relates to broader GI and systemic pathophysiology through complications such as pseudocyst formation, ARDS, acute kidney injury, hypocalcemia via dystrophic calcification, third-spacing hypovolemia, and disseminated intravascular coagulation.
Acute pancreatitis is defined as autodigestion of the exocrine pancreas by its own prematurely activated proteolytic (trypsin, carboxypeptidase) and lipolytic (lipase) enzymes, producing local and sy…