[A comparison on between acute pancreatitis and chronic pancreatitis, special references to their fibrosis]

A comparison on fibrosis in between apparently uninvolved areas in acute pancreatitis (AP) and chronic pancreatitis (CP) was both histopathologically and immunohistochemically studied. Interlobular fibrosis in the apparently uninvolved areas (AP) was found in 7 out of 9 patients and accompanied by hemosiderin deposition in 6 patients, whereas that in only 2 out of 12 patients in CP. In the 2 remaining patients of AP without fibrosis, hemorrhage with inflammation was distributed in the interlobular spaces. Hence, AP was seldomly followed by CP. Interlobular fibrosis in CP immunostained positively to both anti-collagen Types I and III, whereas that in AP in four patients only. Fibrosis in the 3 remaining patients of AP whose illness was of less than one month's duration was positive against anti-collagen Type III only. Therefore, differences in both hemosiderin deposition and immunoreactivity against anti-collagen Type I in the interlobular fibrosis, except for longer surviving patients were observed in between acute and chronic pancreatitis.