Silent ischemic pancreatitis following urosepsis

Abstract

Article HistoryReceived 24 / 04 / 2012 Accepted 09 / 05 / 2012Pancreatic ischemia is an uncommon cause of acute pancreatitis. Ischemia with resultant pancreatitis has been reported in vasculitis, atheroembolism, intraoperative hypotension, survivors of cardiac arrest and hemorrhagic shock. Ischemic acute pancreatitis is difficult to recognize clinically. In this report we present a 63 year old woman with painless ischemic pancreatitis following urosepsis. We suggest that if a critically ill patient is hypotensive for more than 24-48 hours, amylase levels must be monitored to establish ischemic acute pancreatitis (AP) even if the patient remains asymptomatic.