The liver and pancreas in acute necrotising pancreatitis.

Pancreatic fibrosis was found in 23 of 31 cases of acute necrotising and haemorrhagic pancreatitis; however, in the cases with a history of six days or less neither the extent nor the frequency of fibrosis differed significantly from those in controls. There was no histological evidence that duct or vascular lesions are necessary for the disease to occur. The liver was examined in 26 cases and showed cholestasis in 12, including 10 of 20 cases without a biliary aetiology and only two of six cases with biliary tract disease. In no case did the liver show specific features of alcoholic damage.