Gastric cystic duplication: a rare cause of recurrent pancreatitis in children

Abstract

Chronic pancreatitis is an uncommon cause of abdominal pain in children. As a progressive necroinflammatory process, it leads to irreversible scaring of acinar and ductular cells. The cumulative result of each flare may be exocrine and endocrine insufficiency. The pathogenesis of chronic pancreatitis in children is obstructive (congenital ductal anomalies, trauma, sclerosing cholangitis, idiopathic fibrosing pancreatitis) or calcific (hereditary, tropical, cystic fibrosis, hyperlipidemia, hypercalcemia).1 Other systemic disorders (mitochondrial myopathy, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes mellitus) also have been implicated.2 Congenital causes of pancreatitis include anomalies of the biliary or pancreatic ducts, particularly pancreas divisum, or, less frequently, enteric duplications.3 Recognition of enteric duplications as a cause of recurrent pancreatitis is essential, because radical resection can prevent chronic disease.