Acute diseases of the pancreas and biliary tract. Management in the emergency department.

Pancreatitis, commonly encountered in the Emergency Department, possesses a very broad clinical spectrum and may be associated with shock and multiple organ failure. Its diagnosis is based on clinical, laboratory, and radiographic data, but there is no gold standard. Biliary tract disease ranges in severity from cholelithiasis with colic to acute suppurative cholangitis, which may lead to shock. Clinical examination and imaging studies are most useful in these disorders, and definitive treatment is primarily surgical.