[Advances in acute pancreatitis].

The present article reports the most recent evidence on the latest advances in the definition, diagnosis and treatment of acute pancreatitis. The concept of acute pancreatitis and its complications is changing and the presence of persistent organ failure is essential to classify a patient as having severe disease. In this context, increased intestinal permeability is seen as an early phenomenon with important prognostic repercussions. Endoscopic ultrasonography is confirmed as the investigation of choice in patients with idiopathic acute pancreatitis or suspected acute biliary pancreatitis. Aggressive water and electrolyte replacement in the first few hours after onset is the key to a favorable clinical course. Conservative treatment and the use of endoscopic necrosectomy are replacing surgery as the treatment of choice of infected pancreatic necrosis. Lastly, the present article discusses the latest evidence on the prevention of post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) acute pancreatitis.