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To investigate the performance of T2-weighted abbreviated magnetic resonance imaging (T2W-AMRI) protocol in evaluating patients with acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP).A retrospective analysis of consecutive hospitalized patients with ANP who underwent MRI (contrast-enhanced, CE or non-contrast, NC) between January 2017 and November 2020 was performed. The T2W-AMRI and complete MRI (cMRI) sequences were anonymized, and subsequently, two separate sets of data (AMRI and cMRI) were created for presentation to the radiologists involved in reading the data. The T2W-AMRI was based on a single-axial T2 half-Fourier acquisition single-shot turbo spin-echo (HASTE) sequence. The pancreatic and extrapancreatic findings were recorded and tabulated independently by two radiologists on T2W-AMRI and cMRI. In addition, the interobserver agreement and association of findings between T2W-AMRI and cMRI were analyzed.Twenty-eight patients (mean age 31.7 ± 12.2 years, 17 females) were included. Thirteen patients had CE-cMRI, while the rest underwent NC-cMRI. There was no significant difference in the identification of pancreatic necrosis on T2W-AMRI vs. cMRI (p = 1.00). However, T2W-AMRI underestimated necrosis in one patient. Collections were accurately detected in all patients on T2W-AMRI. The mean size of the collection was larger on cMRI (6.5 ± 3.7 cm) than T2W-AMRI (6 ± 3.7 cm) with p = 0.006. cMRI detected more patients with disrupted pancreatic duct (n = 9) than T2W-AMRI (n = 6). However, the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.375). There was a good to an excellent interobserver agreement between the readers for T2W-AMRI (k = 0.62-1).T2W-AMRI may offer a suitable alternative to cMRI in ANP, especially severe disease, as it can be acquired rapidly without the need for contrast injection.