Mortality in acute pancreatitis: is it an early or a late event?

Context: Many prior studies have suggested that the majority of deaths in severe acute pancreatitis occur late in the course of the disease as a result of pancreatic sepsis or pancreatic septic-like syndrome. Other have observed that at least half of the deaths occur early as a result of multisystem organ failure.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to determine the timing of mortality of severe acute pancreatitis and to analyze the course of the disease in a large series of patients.