Obstructive jaundice in the South African black population

We report the causes of obstructive jaundice in 56 black South African patients. Chronic pancreatitis and malignant biliary obstruction occurred with equal frequency. These two conditions may be difficult to differentiate clinically and radiologically, and only operative pancreatic biopsy may be diagnostic. Choledocholithiasis caused jaundice in only 7.1% of the patients, reflecting the relatively low prevalence of gallstones in this population.