ABSTRACT
Introduction: Acute pancreatitis is a life threateninginflammatory disease with high morbidity and mortality.Multiple markers are used to predict severity of pancreatitis.An effective marker would help greatly in early diagnosis ofdisease severity and thus help in timely treatment.The presentstudy attempted to evaluate blood platelet levels as a markerfor assessing the severity of acute pancreatitis.Material and methods:37 patients with acute pancreatitisadmitted in Department of Surgery IGMC Shimla wereincluded in the study after taking informed consent. Patientswere evaluated and diagnosed with acute pancreatits usingblood investigation (serum amylase) as well as imagingmodalilities(ultrasound and contrast enhanced CT scan).Patients blood platelets level were compared on day 1 and day5 of admission in mild and severe pancreatitis patients.Resultswere then analysed statistically.Results: On statistical analysis a platelet count of ≤ 150 m/mm3 was found to be statistically significant on both day 1(p=0.008)) and day 5 (p=0.001) of admission between patientswith mild and severe pancreatitis.Conclusion: Platelets level can function as a cost effectivegood prognostic marker for assessing severity of pancreatitis