Introduction:

Pancreatitis is the inflammation of the exocrine pancreas, as a result of damage to the acinar cells. Its main clinical features are abdominal pain and elevated serum levels of amylase and lipase. The evolution is very variable, from a complete recovery from a first episode, to a debilitating chronic disease, or death.

Objectives:

To characterize patients admitted to the intensive care unit with a diagnosis of acute pancreatitis and to evaluate them according to severity criteria.

Methods:

A descriptive study was carried out in which 46 medical records of patients admitted with a diagnosis of acute pancreatitis in the multipurpose intensive care unit were reviewed, from January 2014 to December 2019. A database was created with the variables age, etiology, complications, lethality and the application of the Ranson, APACHE II and Balthazar-Hill scales, to evaluate severity and prognosis. An analysis of the frequencies of these variables was carried out.

Results:

The age with the highest incidence corresponded to groups under 61 years of age, with a predominance of males. The most frequent cause was gallstones and alcoholism, for 43.4 % and 34.7 % respectively. 47.8 % presented the mild form of the disease. The lethality was 21.7 %.

Conclusions:

Severe forms of the disease are more frequent; acute renal failure and acute respiratory failure are the most representative complications.

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