Based on the example of a cohort of patients treated at a regional Australian hospital, it is evident that many incident acute pancreatitis cases merit consideration as a chronic disease process, for a number of reasons:
• A considerable proportion of acute cases harbour underlying pancreatitis. • An attack of severe acute pancreatitis may lead to long-term structural or functional impairment. • Following an attack of acute pancreatitis, risk factors or precursors of chronic pancreatitis or recurrent acute pancreatitis may persist.
As such, it is argued that cases of acute pancreatitis should by default be managed from the perspective of a chronic disease paradigm. A management strategy based on a prevention hierarchy is proposed.
History
Publication title
Pancreatic Disorders and Therapy
Article number
1000118
Number
1000118
Pagination
1-7
ISSN
2165-7092
Department/School
Tasmanian School of Medicine
Publisher
Omics Publishing Group
Place of publication
USA
Rights statement
Licenced under Creative Commons License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.