scholarly journals Chronic pancreatitis in children: treat like an adult?

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. e231714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Paiva Pereira ◽  
Filipa Santos ◽  
Ana Serrão Neto ◽  
Jorge Canena

A 15-year-old boy with a medical background of obesity, familial hyperlipidemia and acute recurrent pancreatitis, presented to emergency department reporting a 3-day course of periumbilical abdominal pain and nausea. Pain was noticed on epigastric palpation. Laboratory evaluation revealed leucocytosis, neutrophilia and pancreatic enzymes elevation more than three times the upper limit of normal. An acute recurrence of pancreatitis was diagnosed, was admitted to the hospital, being discharged after 5 days. Four days after, he was readmitted because of symptoms recurrence. Elevation of transaminases, gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and direct bilirubin were noticed. Pancreatic enzymes still elevated but lower than in the previous episode. An endoscopic ultrasound revealed a Wirsung with a cephalic stricture and diffuse structural abnormalities suggestive of chronic pancreatitis. The patients was submitted to endotherapy with several sessions of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography including stenting and pancreatoscopy with marked clinical and imaging improvement. A genetic variant was identified.

1994 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prasad Mathew ◽  
Robert Wyllie ◽  
Maureen Caulfield ◽  
Rita Steffen ◽  
Marsha Kay

Acute pancreatitis is unusual in pediatric patients, and chronic pancreatitis is even less common. Between 1983 and 1988, we diagnosed 24 patients in late childhood and adolescence with chronic pancreatitis. Our review revealed that chronic pancreatitis presents as recurrent abdominal pain in late childhood and adolescence. Individual laboratory and radiological investigations may be normal during acute exacerbations of pain, but the determination of serum amylase and lipase concentrations — combined with ultrasonography — will accurately identify most patients. We found that endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography is a valuable tool in the diagnosis of structural abnormalities. Surgical intervention may reduce symptoms in patients with structural abnormalities. There is a tendency toward decreased frequency and severity of pain as the patients increase in age.


2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 849-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael F Byrne ◽  
Robert M Mitchell ◽  
Helen Stiffler ◽  
Paul S Jowell ◽  
Malcolm S Branch ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: Serum amylase and lipase levels are widely used as markers of pancreatic inflammation. However, it would seem that mild elevations of amylase and lipase rarely predict significant pancreatic pathology. Pancreatic imaging tests are expensive. The gold standard, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, carries risk of morbidity and mortality.OBJECTIVE: To determine whether extensive investigation of patients with mild, nonspecific abdominal symptoms and mild elevations of amylase and/or lipase results in a significant diagnostic yield.METHODS: Outpatient evaluations were retrospectively analyzed over 12 months. Inclusion criteria were nonspecific abdominal pain, and mild elevations (less than three times the upper limit of normal) of serum amylase or lipase, or both. Exclusion criteria included a history of chronic pancreatitis, elevation of liver tests and acute pain syndromes.RESULTS: Nineteen patients over the study period met the criteria. Of the nineteen patients, 58% had elevation of lipase alone, 21% amylase alone and 21% had elevations of both. In addition, 89.5% of the patients had nonspecific abdominal pain. After imaging with one or more of ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, endoscopic ultrasound and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, small bowel follow through or hepatobiliary scanning, 78.9% patients were thought to have a normal pancreas. Of the remaining patients, 15.8% had mild or equivocal changes of chronic pancreatitis, and one patient was found to have a pancreatic tail pseudocyst. The average cost of investigation was US$2,255, taking only direct procedural costs into account. No patient was found to have malignancy.CONCLUSIONS: The majority of patients with nonspecific abdominal pain and isolated elevations of amylase and/or lipase (less than three times the upper limit of normal) had no identifiable pancreatic pathology. The diagnostic yield in patients with mild elevations of lipase alone was particularly poor. The cost effectiveness and risk-benefit ratio of extensive investigation of this group of patients warrants further study.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. e000538
Author(s):  
Alejandra Tepox-Padrón ◽  
Rafael Ambrosio Bernal-Mendez ◽  
Gilberto Duarte-Medrano ◽  
Adriana Fabiola Romano-Munive ◽  
Milton Mairena-Valle ◽  
...  

Idiopathic acute recurrent pancreatitis (IARP) is defined as at least two episodes of acute pancreatitis with the complete or near-complete resolution of symptoms and signs of pancreatitis between episodes, without an identified cause. There is a paucity of information about the usefulness of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) in IARP.ObjectivesTo determine the diagnostic yield of EUS in IARP.DesignA retrospective study was performed in patients with IARP evaluated by EUS between January 2009 and December 2016. Follow-up assessments of acute pancreatitis recurrence were carried out.ResultsSeventy-three patients with 102 EUS procedures were included. EUS was able to identify the cause of IARP in 55 patients (75.3%). The most common findings were chronic pancreatitis in 27 patients (49.1%), followed by lithiasic pathology in 24 patients (43.6%), and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm in four patients (7.3%). A directed treatment against EUS findings had a protective tendency associated with the final resolution of recurrence. There were no complications reported.ConclusionEUS performed in patients with IARP helped to identify a possible cause in 2/3 of the cases. The majority of patients have a treatable disease.


1987 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. A. Heij ◽  
H. Obertop ◽  
M. van Blankenstein ◽  
G. A. J. J. Nix ◽  
D. L. Westbroek

The findings from endoscopic retrograde pancreatography (ERP) and secretin-CCK test data were compared in 69 patients: 36 with chronic pancreatitis, 9 with possible chronic pancreatitis, and 24 without chronic pancreatic disease. The ERP findings were also compared with the histologic changes in pancreatic tissue in 18 patients who underwent pancreatic surgery for chronic pancreatitis. ERP films were reviewed according to the criteria proposed by Kasugai et coll. (8) with special attention paid to the side branches. Secretin-CCK test data were interpreted using the discriminant analysis. A good correlation between bicarbonate and chymotrypsin output and ductular changes at ERP was found. The results of ERP and the secretin-CCK test were compatible in 86 per cent of the patients. The relationship between ERP findings and histologic changes was not straightforward. It was concluded that ERP and the secretin-CCK test are complementary in the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis. ERP does not necessarily represent the histology in chronic pancreatitis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 300
Author(s):  
Madeline Drake ◽  
Shah-Jahan M. Dodwad ◽  
Joy Davis ◽  
Lillian S. Kao ◽  
Yanna Cao ◽  
...  

The incidence of acute and chronic pancreatitis is increasing in the United States. Rates of acute pancreatitis (AP) are similar in both sexes, but chronic pancreatitis (CP) is more common in males. When stratified by etiology, women have higher rates of gallstone AP, while men have higher rates of alcohol- and tobacco-related AP and CP, hypercalcemic AP, hypertriglyceridemic AP, malignancy-related AP, and type 1 autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP). No significant sex-related differences have been reported in medication-induced AP or type 2 AIP. Whether post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis is sex-associated remains controversial. Animal models have demonstrated sex-related differences in the rates of induction and severity of AP, CP, and AIP. Animal and human studies have suggested that a combination of risk factor profiles, as well as genes, may be responsible for the observed differences. More investigation into the sex-related differences of AP and CP is desired in order to improve clinical management by developing effective prevention strategies, diagnostics, and therapeutics.


1972 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-4

Pancreatic extracts are used to replace pancreatic enzymes in a variety of conditions where their secretion is deficient. Examples of these conditions include cystic fibrosis of the pancreas in childhood and chronic pancreatitis in adults.


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