title: Acute Pancreatitis: What's the Score?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common presentation in the emergency department (ED). Severity of pancreatitis is an important consideration for ED clinicians making admission judgments. Validated scoring systems can be a helpful tool in this process.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this review is to give a general outline on the subject of AP and compare different criteria used to predict severity of disease for use in the ED.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This review updates the classifications and scoring systems for AP and the relevant parameters of each. This article assesses past and current scoring systems for AP, including Ranson criteria, Glasgow criteria, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II), computed tomography imaging scoring systems, Bedside Index of Severity in Acute Pancreatitis (BISAP) score, Panc 3, Harmless Acute Pancreatitis Score (HAPS), and the Japanese Severity Score. This article also describes the potential use of single variable predictors. Finally, this article discusses risk factors for early readmission, an outcome pertinent to emergency physicians. These parameters may be used to risk-stratify patients presenting to the ED into mild, moderate, and severe pancreatitis for determination of appropriate disposition.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rapid, reliable, and validated means of predicting patient outcome from rapid clinical assessment are of value to the emergency physician. Scoring systems such as BISAP, HAPS, and single-variable predictors may assist in decision-making due to their simplicity of use and applicability within the first 24 h.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Section of Emergency Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Dick C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Section of Emergency Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Ashley C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Rider
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Section of Emergency Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Estrada
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Section of Emergency Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Section of Emergency Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Malford T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Pillow
mesh_terms: D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D006801:Humans; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010343:Patient Admission; D010359:Patient Readmission; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: Acute pancreatitis; BISAP score; Ranson's criteria; disease severity; scoring systems