Pancreatitis, pregnancy and gallstones

In an 18 year hospital experience of over 500 patients with primary acute pancreatitis, 20 developed the disease either while pregnant (7 patients) or within five months of pregnancy (13 patients). Eighteen of the 20 patients had gallstones and adequate biliary surgery abolished further attacks of pancreatitis. Only two patients had surgery during the acute phase of their illness. The single fetal death was associated with early surgical intervention and there were no maternal deaths. We found no evidence of a specific link between pregnancy and pancreatitis but there is a marked association between pancreatitis and gallstones.