Necrotizing colitis complicating necrotized pancreatitis: Look out for intestinal pneumatosis

Abstract

Acute pancreatitis is a common cause of acute abdominal pain and is associated with a wide variety of complications. Pancreatic necrosis is one of the most important complications and is considered to be the most important indicator of disease severity as the increased frequency of death in acute pancreatitis is directly correlated with the development and extent of pancreatic necrosis. In addition to pancreatic necrosis, wide spectrums of colonic complications have been described, including functional and mechanical ileus, ischemic necrosis and fistula formation. In acute pancreatitis bowel ischemia usually involves the transverse colon or the hepatic and splenic flexures and may range in severity from mild superficial mural involvement totransmural colonic necrosis. This article reports a case of large bowel infarction as a complication of severe necrotizing pancreatitis in a 35-year-old male patient.