Chronic pancreatitis in China: etiology and management

The incidence of chronic pancreatitis in China is unknown. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), surgery, and autopsy demonstrated that chronic pancreatitis in China is mainly secondary to cholelithiasis and other diseases of the bile ducts. Stones in the common bile duct, both intra- and extrahepatic, are extremely frequent in China. Such patients may have scores, even hundreds, of stones filling the common bile duct and its radicles. Biliary tract disease constitutes the etiology of chronic pancreatitis in 40-50% of our patients. The prolongation of necrosis, abscess, or pseudocyst after acute pancreatitis may also lead to chronic inflammation of the pancreas, as may a diverticulum at the second part of the duodenum. The pancreatitis observed in China is apt to be of the chronic relapsing type. Pancreatic ductal stones and ascaris lumbricoides may sometimes be associated with chronic inflammation of the pancreas; however, the cause of chronic pancreatitis is obscure in a large segment of the patients. Beside the ordinary clinical manifestation of chronic pancreatitis, such as abdominal pain, fever, jaundice, and steatorrhea, regional (splenic) portal hypertension may be observed. ERCP has been useful in diagnosis, and the major changes found in the pancreatic duct are discussed. Since the symptoms and signs of chronic pancreatitis in China are usually mild or moderate, the patient with intractable pain is uncommon, most being treated with medication. Most surgical procedures utilized to treat chronic pancreatitis are related to the biliary system, such as cholecystectomy with internal or external drainage of the choledochus. Internal drainage of a pancreatic pseudocyst, partial pancreatectomy, and pancreaticojejunostomy are also performed, as indicated, but are less frequent.