Pancreatitis. Pancreatitis is a common but rather poorly understood entity most often associated with alcohol abuse or biliary tract disease. Despite the availability of a variety of diagnostic tests and imaging techniques, the diagnosis of pancreatitis continues to be primarily a clinical one. Of major concern to the emergency physician is distinguishing pancreatitis from other, potentially lethal, causes of abdominal pain, and identifying those patients with severe pancreatitis who are at risk for a complicated course secondary to the remote systemic effects of the disease. 