Recurrent acute pancreatitis--rarely idiopathic: 1989 Du Pont lecture

The majority (about 75%) of patients who suffer from acute pancreatitis do so as a consequence of gallstones or alcohol abuse. The other 25% of patients often present difficult diagnostic problems. Over several years the author has accumulated a series of patients with remedial causes of pancreatitis. They include a group of congenital conditions such as pancreas divisum, choledochal cysts and congenital abnormalities of the pancreatic ductal system. Patients who have had pancreatitis and who have an intact gallbladder often have stones that are difficult to identify. Repeated attacks of pancreatitis in the absence of any other apparent cause justifies cholecystectomy, which will often identify the cause so that recurrence can be prevented. A group of nonanatomic causes are also known. They include hyperlipidemia, drugs and toxins, certain systemic illnesses such as systemic lupus erythematosus, pregnancy, hypercalcemia, hereditary causes and occasionally cancer. In his lecture the author reviews the various etiologies of acute pancreatitis and describes an algorithm that can be used when the diagnosis is difficult.