Obstructive jaundice in patients with pancreatitis without associated biliary tract disease

Jaundice occurring in patients with pancreatitis is usually due to hepatocellular injury or to associated biliary tract disease. Common duct obstruction is occasionally caused by pancreatic fibrosis, edema or pseudocyst in patients who have neither hepatocellular injury nor biliary tract disease. We have studied 7 patients with obstructive jaundice due to pancreatitis who demonstrated no other known cause for jaundice. The difficulty in making the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant disease in these patients, particularly when no pain is associated with obstructive jaundice, is discussed. In view of the fact that the terminal common duct traverses the pancreas, it is uncertain why obstructive jaundice associated with chronic pancreatitis does not occur more often unless the condition is sometimes transient and overlooked. Operative intervention is required in those patients in whom jaundice is persistent. Operation is intended to decompress the biliary tract and the pancreas. The approach used will be dictated by the operative findings in each patient.