This paper was designed for therapists and other medical specialists having no special surgical experience who are likely to encounter difficulties in diagnostics of acute pancreatitis when its clinical picture is dominated by one of the complications and the disease is disguised as a different pathology, such as shock, collapse, growing cardiac insufficiency of unclear etiology, acute respiratory insufficiency, idiopathic adult respiratory distress syndrome, acute renal insufficiency, acute hepatic insufficiency, delirium, and newly diagnosed severe diabetes mellitus. The most common "clinical masks" of acute pancreatitis are described along with the basic principles of its clinical and instrumental diagnostics, and the main components of conservative treatment. The author emphasizes the necessity of distinguishing the cases of potentially severe acute pancreatitis and of urgent hospitalization of such patients in the intensive therapy units for the immediate combined conservative treatment. The main medications for this purpose, their doses, routes of administration, and peculiarities of application are described.