Different Toxins Lead to Different Complications of Chronic Pancreatitis

A landmark study shows how inflammatory, fibrotic, and insufficiency complications of CP are associated with etiological risk factors.

Whereas chronic pancreatitis (CP) can have many different causes, both environmental and genetic, little is known about whether specific insults to the pancreas can lead to different types of CP complications.

Now, investigators in Scandinavia and the Baltics have conducted a retrospective, multicenter study to identify risk factors for pancreatic complications in 1071 CP patients. The authors used treelet transform analysis to group CP complications into three clusters: inflammatory (e.g., pseudocysts), fibrotic (e.g., pancreatic duct strictures), and insufficiency (diabetes and exocrine pancreatic insufficiency). Complication rates were associated with etiological risk factors, including alcohol use and smoking.

Results were as follows:

Infl…

Reviewing Author

Douglas G. Adler, MD, FACG, AGAF, FASGE

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBSC; Merit; Olympus

Speaker’s BureauAbbVie

Editorial BoardsGastrointestinal Endoscopy