One of the most feared complications of acute pancreatitis is infected pancreatic necrosis.

The only sign on CT that allows the diagnosis of infected pancreatic necrosis is the identification of gas bubbles through the parenchymal necrosis, since the patient has not undergone any intervention or operated upon. This condition is also known as emphysematous pancreatitis.

Some authors advocate the differentiation between infected pancreatic necrosis and pancreatic abscess, reserving the use of the term pancreatic abscess for the condition in which identifies a more well-defined accumulation of liquid, while the infected pancreatic necrosis would be more diffuse, ill-defined and with anarchic distribution of gas inside.