Dallas Acute Pancreatitis
Dallas Acute Pancreatitis
The Overall Goal of the study is to optimize initial evaluation and treatment of patients
 with acute pancreatitis according to recommended guidelines which were implemented in January
 2015.

 All patients diagnosed with acute pancreatitis since August 2011 will be included in the
 study for the retrospective analysis of baseline and clinical outcomes data and subsequently
 divided into two groups (i.e. those treated between August 2011 and December 2014 before
 guidelines were implemented and those treated between January 2015 and October 2018).
Acute pancreatitis (AP) represents a significant burden for patients, their caregivers, and
 our healthcare delivery systems. The most common discharge gastrointestinal diagnosis is AP
 and more than two billion dollars is spent annually for management thereof. Costs are
 certainly even higher as the incidence of acute pancreatitis has increased. Admit frequency
 for AP doubled in 15 years before 2002 such that more than 200,000 admissions were attributed
 to AP, and the trend toward increased admissions for AP has continued. Overall still about
 20% of AP cases are severe and the risk for fatality attributed to severe acute pancreatitis
 is significant (> 25%).(5, 6) Classification of AP severity has been recently defined into
 three groups (mild, moderately severe, and severe). These categories have been validated in
 that standard clinical outcomes correlate well with the severity of AP.

 The proposed study will follow the cohort study design where baseline patient data and
 clinical outcomes data will be collected retrospectively. All patients diagnosed with AP
 between January 2015 and October 2018, independent of their initial suspected severity, were
 managed according to a pre-printed order set that adheres to recently published guidelines.
 (9) Retrospective data will be collected on patients diagnosed with acute pancreatitis based
 on two groups (those treated between August 2011 and December 2014 before guidelines were
 implemented and those treated between January 2015 and October 2018). Initial clinical
 criteria will be evaluated for the predictive value of acute pancreatitis severity in both
 groups.

 All patients diagnosed with acute pancreatitis since August 2011 will be included in the
 study for the retrospective analysis of baseline and clinical outcomes data and subsequently
 divided into two groups (i.e. those treated between August 2011 and December 2014 before
 guidelines were implemented and those treated between January 2015 and October 2018).
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Age ≥ 18 years

 -  Presented to ER with Acute severe pain for < 48 hours before presentation.

 -  Laboratory values of Lipase and/or amylase > 3X normal

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  History of recent penetrating or blunt abdominal trauma

 -  Patients transferred to MDMC for upper abdominal pain consistent with pancreatic
 etiology