Simplified prognostic criteria in acute pancreatitis.

Simplified prognostic criteria (SPC) have been developed for evaluating patients with acute pancreatitis. The criteria based on easily measured biologic and clinical variables were evaluated on all 76 patients with acute pancreatitis treated over a 2-year period. Results were compared with Ranson's early objective sings. All the SPC within 48 h of admission correlated significantly (p less than 0.001) with increased incidence of complications. Of the 11 early objective signs only four--fall in hematocrit, serum calcium, PO2, and fluid sequestrations--were associated with significantly increased complications. The incidence of complications, 48%, seen in patients with one or more SPC was comparable to the 50% seen in patients with three or more Ranson's early objective signs. The results suggest that SPC is a simple, easily applicable gauge that gives valuable assessment of the severity of acute pancreatitis.