Acute Pancreatitis

Inflammation of the pancreas is a medical emergency that is one of the main reasons for hospital admission of the patients. Evidence suggests that day-to-day admission to the hospital because of acute pancreatitis is increasing. The large number of deaths in patients with acute pancreatitis is due to shock, anoxia, reduce blood pressure or fluid and electrolyte imbalance. The mortality rate can be about 10 to 30% of patients with severe acute disease, in fact, acute pancreatitis is along with a high risk of complications and problems of life. This paper attempts to review epidemiology, clinical findings, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of acute pancreatitis along with nursing care and the role of nurses in acute cases and especially in being hospitalized in intensive care unit.

This paper is a review paper developed using medical and nursing literature and electronic resources, electronic databases of Medscape, ScienceDirect, Eleviser between 2010 and 2015 based on objectives.

Acute pancreatitis ranges from mild impairment, self-limiting (interstitial pancreatitis) to severe fatal disease (necrotizing pancreatitis), which is not responding to any treatment. The main symptom of pancreatitis is severe abdominal pain. Diagnosis of acute pancreatitis is confirmed with increasing levels of serum amylase and lipase (three times the normal level or more). The base for treatment of acute pancreatitis is relieving the symptoms, prevention, or treatment of complications, which are discussed in detail in this article.

Since the shock and multiple life organ failure may occur with acute pancreatitis, strict control of vital signs and other signs and symptoms supportive and curative measures should be undertaken as soon as possible for the patient to prevent the creation of the side effects. Because of the risk of recurrence, the needed training about the factors influential in the onset of acute pancreatitis should be given to the patients.