BACKGROUND: Our goal was to study if early and simplified clinical and laboratorial evaluation are associated to severity and necrosis in acute panceatitis (AP). METHODS: One hundred and sixty four patients, hospitalized at the Clementino Fraga Filho University Hospital between January 1990 and August 2002 with a AP final diagnosis, were included in this study. The study was retrospective and included only the first episode of each patient. From the charts we obtained clinical, laboratorial, imaging exams, operations and death data. From these data we established the severity of each case. Statistical analysis used the Variance Analysis test of Kruskal-Wallis, completed by the Multiple Comparisons test if the diference was significant. Statistic significance was defined as p< 0,05. RESULTS: Biliar etiology was the most common: 43,9% of cases, necrosis incidence was 21,3% and overall mortality was 23,2%. We observed that normal cardiac frequency at admission was associated to mild AP, as high urea and creatinine plasmatic levels at admission to severe AP, and hyperglycemia (121 mg/dl) to pancreatic necrosis. CONCLUSION: We concluded that early and simplified clinical and laboratorial evaluation at admission had a limited but clear role in AP prognosis.
Pancreatitis; Acute disease; Pancreatitis, acute necrotizing; Prognosis
