Acute terminal pancreatitis.

Acute terminal pancreatitis (ATP) was defined as a postmortem entity of localized acute pancreatitis without any clinical evidence of pancreatic disease. Based on the deliberate examinations of pancreatic tissue from 76 autopsies, we found 10 cases (13%) that met the criteria of ATP. Shock as an immediate cause of death was a statistically significant factor in our cases of ATP. There were two pathological types of ATP, one periductal and the other perilobular. These two types of ATP implied that there would be at least two different mechanisms for the development of acute pancreatitis: pancreatic duct and periduct damage, and acinar cell injury at the periphery of lobules.