The clinical study of chronic pancreatitis

Chronic pancreatitis is a relentlessly progressive fibro inflammatory process which may eventually lead to pancreatic insufficiency. This study is done to review the various treatments for chronic pancreatitis and to analyze the clinical features, different etiological factors, comparing different clinical trials in India as well as western countries. One hundred and eight patients with the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis were included in this study from January 1996 to June 1999. In this present series, most of the patients presented in the 3rd and 4th decades of life. The most common presentation was recurrent episodes of pain in the epigastrium radiating to the back. Most patients are non-alcoholic and the etiological factor in this group may be attributed to the nutritional, idiopathic, hereditary etc, though the single most common etiological factor seemed to be alcohol. The most specific investigation to detect the presence of pancreatic calculi, pseudo cysts, and duct dilatation was ultrasonography. Among the drugs, antioxidant therapy found to have effective role in the conservative management. Puestow's lateral pancreaticojejunostomy is most commonly performed surgery which has good results.