Why does severe acute pancreatitis often lead to autodigestion of the pancreas?

💡 Explanation

The pancreas is protected by enzyme inhibitors and packaging proenzymes into zymogen granules, but in pancreatitis, premature trypsinogen activation to trypsin occurs. This overwhelms protective mechanisms because trypsin then activates other proenzymes like chymotrypsin and elastase, therefore leading to autodigestion, rather than damage directly from amylase or impaired bicarbonate secretion.

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