Acute pancreatitis secondary to hypertriglyceridaemia caused by undiagnosed type 2 diabetes

In some patients undiagnosed diabetes may present with metabolic complications of diabetes as their initial presentation. Suboptimal glycaemic control in diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes can cause hypertriglyceridaemia which can cause pancreatitis. In patients presenting with pancreatitis where common causes of pancreatitis are excluded hypertriglyceridaemia should be considered as a cause and hence their lipid profile should be evaluated. If hypertriglyceridaemia is confirmed, then such a patient should be screened for diabetes.