title: Imaging of Acute Pancreatitis.
abstract: Acute pancreatitis is an acute inflammation of the pancreas. Several classification systems have been used in the past but were considered unsatisfactory. A revised Atlanta classification of acute pancreatitis was published that assessed the clinical course and severity of disease; divided acute pancreatitis into interstitial edematous pancreatitis and necrotizing pancreatitis; discerned an early phase (first week) from a late phase (after the first week); and focused on systemic inflammatory response syndrome and organ failure. This article focuses on the revised classification of acute pancreatitis, with emphasis on imaging features, particularly on newly-termed fluid collections and implications for the radiologist.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, Medical School, PO Box 2829, San Francisco, CA 94126-2829, USA. Electronic address: remo148@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ruedi F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Thoeni
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010179:Pancreas / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: Acute necrotic collection; Acute pancreatitis; Acute peripancreatic fluid collections; Interstitial edematous pancreatitis; Necrotizing pancreatitis; Pseudocyst; Systemic inflammatory response syndrome; Walled-off pancreatic necrosis