Assessment of severity of acute pancreatitis over time

In recent years there has been an increase in the incidence of acute pancreatitis worldwide. In spite of efforts to improve the treatment and care of patients with acute pancreatitis, to develop imaging investigations and interventional diagnostic and treatment techniques and to facilitate patients’ access to them, acute pancreatitis continues to be associated with significant mortality and morbidity, and the treatment of patients suffering from this disease entails significant costs for healthcare systems.

Researchers are in a permanent quest to get to a global consensus for stratifying the severity of acute pancreatitis. We need this in order to offer the proper management for each patient diagnosed with this condition and to improve hospital and health system strategies.

Over the years, it has been attempted to develop algorithms to support a swift assessment of patients with acute pancreatitis with a prediction of disease severity as close to reality as possible for optimal management. This has led to the development of classifications of severity and severity scores. These require a permanent updating to keep up with the technical and technological developments involved in investigating and treating the patient and encompassing the most recent studies.

The goal of this paper is to go through these classifications and scores, emphasizing factors that should be taken into account, and reflecting upon their utility and upon the necessity of improving them.