Harmless Acute Pancreatitis Score (HAPS)

Why Use

Identifying low risk patients with pancreatitis is notoriously difficult; a scoring system may help.

When to Use

Patients with pancreatitis, particularly early in course.

Formula

Pearls / Pitfalls

The Harmless Acute Pancreatitis Score (HAPS) was developed primarily by chart review (retrospective) studies. The HAPS may have high predictive value for low risk patients and may be sufficient to suggest that a patient does not require immediate ICU admission. It uses just three variables, one subject to clinician judgment. A score of 0 suggests the absence of pancreatic necrosis, need for dialysis, artificial ventilation, or fatal outcome with 97% specificity and 98% positive predictive value in the original study.

Management

We are not aware of algorithms incorporating the HAPS.

Critical Actions

The HAPS is not designed to identify patients with high risk of pancreatitis, only those with low risk.

Advice

The HAPS should not be used in isolation to suggest that a patient will have a “harmless” course of pancreatitis, but may be an additional useful piece of data in otherwise low-risk patients.

More Information

The Harmless Acute Pancreatitis Score (HAPS) rules out “severe” pancreatitis and need for admission for acute pancreatitis based on three clinical values: Peritonitis Creatinine Hematocrit If the above criteria are normal (score of 0), the patient likely does not need ICU admission.