Is pancreatitis life threatening?

It Can Be: 90% of the time, pancreatitis is mild and self-limiting. If severe, people are at-risk at 3 different times: early on, factors are released into the body that can depress many organs' function--if chronically ill, this can be dangerous; middle phase problems arise from pancreatic necrosis, sometimes requiring surgery; late phase problems tend to be infectious in origin, often following surgery.

It can be.: Pancreatitis ranges from mild to life threatening. Most attacks are mild to moderate.