Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of continuous regional arterial infusion (CRAI) in patients with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP).Methods One hundred SAP patients (including 41 gallstone,26 alcoholism,13 hypertriglyceridemia,11 after heavy meals,and 9 unknown) who were admitted into our hospital from January 2013 to October 2017 were assigned to the CRAI group (n =58) and the control group (n =42).The levels of laboratory measurements,hospitalization time and costs,complications and outcomes were compared between the two groups.Results On the sixth and tenth day of treatment,the levels of white blood cell,hemodiastase,urine amylase,blood glucose,blood calcium and APACHE-Ⅱ score improved in both the 2 groups.The degrees of improvement in the CRAI group were better than that in the control group.The abdominal pain relief time [(3.3± 1.2)d vs.(5.9±2.3)d],hemodiastase recovery time [(7.9±1.8)d vs.(13.3±2.5)d],and hospitalization stay [(21.3±3.6)d vs.(32.4±4.3)d] were shorter in the CRAI group.The costs were similar in the two groups.Retroperitoneal infection,pancreatic pseudocyst,and pancreatic drainage were less in the CRAI group.The improved and cure rates were 94.8％ and 70.7％ in the CRAI group,which were higher than those in the control group (71.4％ and 47.6％,respectively).Moreover,the ineffective treatment and mortality rates were 5.2％ and 1.7％ in the CRAI group,which were lower than those in the control group (28.6％ and 14.3％,respectively).Conclusions CRAI was an efficacious and safe treatment for patients with SAP.It can be used as an alternative to other effective treatments.