Sudden death and lipomatous infiltration of the heart involved by fat necrosis resulting from acute pancreatitis.

The possible causal link between damage to the heart and acute pancreatitis and other pancreatic diseases has been considered in both adults and children, particularly in cases of sudden, unexpected death. However, the cardiac pathological findings so far reported in the literature are neither specific enough, nor of a kind to prove a direct pancreatic pathogenesis. We describe the occurrence of steatonecrosis developed in areas of lipomatous infiltration of the heart following acute exacerbation of latent chronic pancreatitis.