THE RECOGNITION of increased blood diastase values in instances of acute pancreatitis by Elman1 and the subsequent development of a simple, rapid and accurate method of determining the diastatic activity of both blood and urine by Somogyi2 have led to the more frequent recognition of mild or transient forms of this disease.
A decade ago this subject was reviewed, and case reports of 21 patients with acute pancreatitis seen at St. Louis Jewish Hospital and St. Louis City Hospital were presented in a paper from these laboratories.3 From 1934, when the Somogyi diastase methods were first used, until July 1947 there have been 65 patients with acute pancreatitis seen at the St. Louis Jewish Hospital. The history of these patients subsequent to their attacks of pancreatitis is available in most instances. As the cases accumulated, characteristics of the disease which we did not previously appreciate have become