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This 54-year-old man with a long history of alcohol abuse had been admitted to the hospital numerous times for abdominal pain thought to be due to gastritis or a peptic ulcer. On several occasions his serum amylase level was elevated into the range of 300-500 u/L indicating relapsing or recurrent pancreatitisdisorder. Three weeks prior to his demise, the patient began an alcoholic binge. The binge continued until three Three days prior to admission the patient's death at which time he developed fever and malaise, prompting him to cease drinking. He and when he was brought to the hospital he was semi-comatose and with had a fever of 105104.4°F5°F. Shortly after arriving at the hospital, the patient died from massive pneumonia.  At autopsy, a necrotizing lobar pneumonia was present which contained organisms consistent with Klebsiella pneumoniae. The liver was enlarged--weighing 2700 grams--and had a yellow-orange color. The liver was firm to palpation and the cut surface had a slightly granular appearance suggestive of early cirrhosis. The pancreas showed multiple areas of fibrosis.