Acute Hemorrhagic Pancreatitis and Sepsis: A Cause for Maternal Death

Abstract

Acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis is the inflammation of the pancreas due to proteolysis, lipolysis, and hemorrhage resulting from the destructive effect of enzymes, released from the pancreas. It is a rare event, often associated with a high maternal mortality as well as fetal loss with an incidence of 3 in 10,000 pregnancies. Acute pancreatitis (AP) in pregnancy has variable clinical presentations, but most commonly presents as an acute abdomen, with more than 50% of cases diagnosed in the third trimester demonstrating that acute pancreatitis is more common with advancing gestational age (Ducarme et al., J Perinatol 34:87–94, 2014). It is a real challenge for clinicians to diagnose this condition, especially in the early postpartum period (Arun et al., J Obstet Anaesth Crit Care 3(2):113, 2013). For a favourable outcome, correct and early treatment is essential. Here, we report a case of a 19-year-old primigravida patient with postpartum day 3 presenting with abdominal pain and later diagnosed with acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis on autopsy.