Acute pancreatitis continues to be an entity with a varied course and different degrees of morbidity. There con- tinues to be an important controversy regarding management of this entity in which many areas of uncertainty still need to be resolved. In this section we present a discussion about the role of antibiotics in the prevention of pancreatic infections. These infections are the primary cause of death among patients with acute pancrea- titis. Interestingly, evidence exists both for and against the use of antibiotic prophylaxis. In fact successive guides published within a relative short period of time have opted for one or the other option. In these two articles we review the literature and extrapolate its implications for practice in our environment.
