What's the most likely diagnosis?
- 42 year-old male with abdominal pain
- Splenic infarcts
- Adrenal adenomas
- Cholecystitis
- Acute pancreatitis
- Hepatic metastasis
Answer:
4. Acute pancreatitis
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Acute pancreatitis
General considerations
- Acute inflammation of the pancreas
- Most commonly caused by alcohol abuse and gallstones
- For reasons not yet fully understood, there is a release of activated pancreatic enzymes into the pancreas and surrounding tissues which causes tissue destruction
- The clinical course of pancreatitis can range from mild (70-80%) to severe (20-30%)
- Most deaths from acute pancreatitis result from sepsis secondary to pancreatic necrosis and infection and multi-organ failure
- Males more often affected than females; 3X more common in African Americans than Caucasians
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