Background: Early assessment of disease severity and prediction of the course has been an important part of the initial resuscitation and management protocol in acute pancreatitis. Various markers for severity assessment ranging from multi parametric scores like Ranson, APACHE II, modified Glasgowto single laboratory markers like serum creatinine, IL -1, IL -6 are complex or lack sensitivity. The present study deals with the role of soluble CD73 (sCD73) and its correlation with serum CRP and creatinine levels in patients of acute pancreatitis. Methodology: SerumCD73, qCRP and creatinine was measured in patients of acute pancreatitis who presented to the surgical emergency within 120 hours of the onset of pain.The serum levels of CD73, qCRP and serum creatinine were correlated with the clinical severity of acute pancreatitis, duration of hospital say. Serum levels of CRP, creatinine and sCD73 levels were independently assessed in terms of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) for defining cut-off levels for prediction of diseases outcome. Results: Serum levels of sCD73 were significantly different in mild, moderate and severe acute pancreatitis (17.75±7.38 vs 25.69±7.92 vs 35.50±7.88 p  0.0001). Similarly the sCD73 levels had significantly high correlation with the duration of hospital stay (r = 0.75, p  0.0001) but duration of stay was poorly correlated to either CRP or creatinine levels (r = 0.236 and 0.130 respectively p =  0.069 and 0.322 respectively). Unfortunately, none of the markers had high sensitivity or specificity for predicting mortality. Conclusion: Soluble CD73 levels at the time of admission can be a reliable prognostic marker to assess the severity, hospital course and final outcome of acute pancreatitis however,the findings in this study demand a larger multicentre study so as to validate the results with greater significance.

Keywords: Acute Pancreatitis; Prognostic Marker; CD 73).