Diagnosis Of Early Chronic Pancreatitis Research Articles

Role of advanced endoscopy in the management of inflammatory digestive diseases (pancreas and biliary tract).

The progress of endoscopic diagnosis and treatment for inflammatory diseases of the biliary tract and pancreas have been remarkable. Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) and EUS-elastography are used for the diagnosis of early chronic pancreatitis and evaluation of endocrine and exocrine function in chronic pancreatitis. Notably, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy and electrohydraulic shock wave lithotripsy have improved the endoscopic stone removal rate in patients for whom pancreatic stone removal is difficult. Studies have reported the use of self-expanding metal stents for stent placement for pancreatic duct stenosis and EUS-guided pancreatic drainage for refractory pancreatic duct strictures. Furthermore, EUS-guided drainage using a double-pigtailed plastic stent has been performed for the management of symptomatic pancreatic fluid collection after acute pancreatitis. Recently, lumen-apposing metal stents have led to advances in the treatment of walled-off necrosis after acute pancreatitis. EUS-guided biliary drainage is an alternative to refractory endoscopic biliary drainage and percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage for the treatment of acute cholangitis. The placement of an inside stent followed by switching to uncovered self-expanding metal stents in difficult-to-treat cases has been proposed for acute cholangitis by malignant biliary obstruction. Endoscopic transpapillary gallbladder drainage is an alternative to percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage for severe and some cases of moderate acute cholecystitis. EUS-guided gallbladder drainage has been reported as an alternative to percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage and endoscopic transpapillary gallbladder drainage. However, it is important to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each drainage method and select the optimal drainage method for each case.

Secretin magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (s-MRCP) in the diagnosis of early chronic pancreatitis: Why not?

Chronic pancreatitis is a syndrome with several conditions, resulting in similar phenotypic manifestations. Pancreatic biopsy would be the gold standard for diagnosis, but it is often not possible to perform. If chronic pancreatitis is suspected, early diagnosis facilitates appropriate management and prevents complications. In this context, secretin-induced magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (s-CPRM) is one of the tests used. This study aims to determine the accuracy and efficiency of s-CPRM in the early diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis, comparing its results with those of other methods used for this purpose, as well as analyzing its cost-benefit ratio. A systematic review was carried out in accordance with PRISMA recommendations. The data from each article used was summarized in a table with the following topics: DOI; first author; year; location; type of study; target population; importance of s-CPRM; other methods and conclusions. We included articles with adults over the age of 18; in English or Spanish; talking about s-CPRM; studies from 2018 onwards; articles comparing the techniques researched. Case reports, editorials and editor's opinions, and animal studies were excluded. Articles from previous years were added to expand the scarce literature. s-CPRM is a low-invasive test that analyzes pancreatic structure and function, presenting diagnostic results that are comparable and even superior to those of other methods. It faces difficult access to specialized professionals, in addition to the high costs of equipment and secretin. However, as early diagnosis can contain the progression of the disease, avoiding future treatment costs, investing in this test is valid and necessary.

Chronic pancreatitis: prospects for early detection: A review

Over the last 10 years, the incidence of chronic pancreatitis (CP) has increased 4 times and nowadays is about 27.450 cases per 100 000 adults. In the outpatient gastroenterologist practice, patients with CP account for about 3545%, in the hospital gastroenterology department up to 2045%. CP criteria according to imaging methods fibrosis, duct dilatation and deformation, calcifications in the pancreatic parenchyma or its atrophy are formed at a late stage of the disease. Simultaneously, diagnosis at the early stage with potentially reversible changes remains difficult, due to the lack of clear instrumental and laboratory findings confirming minimal changes in the pancreas. However, some methods in combination with a detailed history taking, risk factors identification in comparison with the clinical features are of interest for the early diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis.

Current Situation and Problems in Diagnosis of Early Chronic Pancreatitis.

The Japan Pancreas Society introduced the concept of early chronic pancreatitis (ECP) in 2009, but its epidemiology remains unclear. This study investigated challenges in ECP diagnosis. Early chronic pancreatitis was diagnosed in 4 cohorts between April 2019 and November 2021 using the Clinical Diagnostic Criteria for Chronic Pancreatitis 2019. These cohorts included patients with abdominal/back pain, abnormal pancreatic enzyme levels, ECP suspected due to other reasons, and those who underwent endoscopic ultrasonography for other diseases. A total of 2502 cases were analyzed and 150 (40 alcoholic and 110 nonalcoholic) cases with ECP findings on endoscopic ultrasonography were included. Early chronic pancreatitis was confirmed in 14 cases (9%), including 9 (22.5%) alcoholic and 5 (4.5%) nonalcoholic cases. Early chronic pancreatitis was confirmed in 15%, 0%, 2.2%, and 0.13% cases in the 4 cohorts, respectively. Early chronic pancreatitis was confirmed in 10 (48%) of the 21 (14%) cases with pancreatic pain. Early chronic pancreatitis diagnostic rate was low, particularly in nonalcoholic cases, but was slightly higher in cases with pancreatic pain. The diagnostic rate was highest in the abdominal/back pain group. Further studies are required to establish appropriate diagnostic criteria for ECP.

Early diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis

Chronic pancreatitis is one of the most challenging disorders from the perspective of its early diagnosis and effective treatment. Within the last decade, the diagnosis of early chronic pancreatitis has been firmly introduced into the practice of gastroenterology. The delineation of this form as an initial stage of chronic pancreatitis is based on the need in early and effective treatment that could cease the progression of the disease and reduce the possibility of its complications.
 The diagnostic criteria of chronic pancreatitis have been described in details in the literature; however, specifics of the diagnosis in its early stage have been scarcely highlighted. Chronic pancreatitis is commonly diagnosed with a number of imaging techniques (they can show abnormalities in morphology of the pancreas), as well as laboratory tests (showing functional organ deficit). However, morphological and imaging techniques are insufficient for the diagnosis of the early chronic pancreatitis. A new integral strategy towards early diagnosis seems necessary, that would consider not only the morphology, but also potential etiology, risk factors of the disease and its complications in patients with suspected chronic pancreatitis.
 The review of the literature presents the definition of the early pancreatitis and discusses the potential of imaging techniques and functional tests in its diagnosis. An adequate strategy for the diagnosis of the early pancreatitis is formulated, based on an individual patient characteristic with suspected early chronic pancreatitis, namely, risk factors, clinical manifestations, imaging results and serological biomarkers.

MDCT Imaging Features of Acute and Chronic Pancreatitis with its Complications: A Pictorial Review

The incidence of Acute Pancreatitis (AP) was 30.0 per 100,000 population overall. The two most common aetiological factors of AP are gallstones and alcohol abuse, while other causes such as metabolic, iatrogenic, vascular, infections, and toxic factors are less important and less common. Two laboratory tests, serum amylase and lipase levels, which have relatively good sensitivity and specificity, complement imaging in the diagnosis and treatment of some cases of AP. Imaging helps confirm the clinical diagnosis, determine the cause, grade the extent of AP, and assess its severity, in addition to clinical symptoms and laboratory studies. Chronic Pancreatitis (CP) is characterised by continuous inflammatory and fibrotic changes in the pancreas, eventually resulting in exocrine and endocrine dysfunction. Alcoholism is a factor in 70-90% of CP cases. Other causes include chronic ulcerative colitis, Sjogren’s syndrome, primary sclerosing cholangitis, etc. Early diagnosis of CP is challenging, as biochemical studies do not provide definitive diagnosis in the early stages. Imaging, mainly Contrast Enhanced Computed Tomography (CECT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), aids in the definitive diagnosis. The present pictorial article aimed to provide an image-rich overview of the morphological features associated with the early-stage and late-stage local consequences of acute and chronic pancreatitis.

St13 protects against disordered acinar cell arachidonic acid pathway in chronic pancreatitis

BackgroundEarly diagnosis and treatment of chronic pancreatitis (CP) are limited. In this study, St13, a co-chaperone protein, was investigated whether it constituted a novel regulatory target in CP. Meanwhile, we evaluated the value of micro-PET/CT in the early diagnosis of CP.MethodsData from healthy control individuals and patients with alcoholic CP (ACP) or non-ACP (nACP) were analysed. PRSS1 transgenic mice (PRSS1Tg) were treated with ethanol or caerulein to mimic the development of ACP or nACP, respectively. Pancreatic lipid metabolite profiling was performed in human and PRSS1Tg model mice. The potential functions of St13 were investigated by crossing PRSS1Tg mice with St13−/− mice via immunoprecipitation and lipid metabolomics. Micro-PET/CT was performed to evaluate pancreatic morphology and fibrosis in CP model.ResultsThe arachidonic acid (AA) pathway ranked the most commonly dysregulated lipid pathway in ACP and nACP in human and mice. Knockout of St13 exacerbated fatty replacement and fibrosis in CP model. Sdf2l1 was identified as a binding partner of St13 as it stabilizes the IRE1α-XBP1s signalling pathway, which regulates COX-2, an important component in AA metabolism. Micro-PET/CT with 68Ga-FAPI-04 was useful for evaluating pancreatic morphology and fibrosis in CP model mice 2 weeks after modelling.ConclusionSt13 is functionally activated in acinar cells and protects against the cellular characteristics of CP by binding Sdf2l1, regulating AA pathway. 68Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT may be a very valuable approach for the early diagnosis of CP. These findings thus provide novel insights into both diagnosis and treatment of CP.

Identification of potential serum exosomal microRNAs involved in acinar-ductal metaplasia that is a precursor of pancreatic cancer associated with chronic pancreatitis.

Backgrounds:Due to difficulty in early diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis (CP), it is urgent to find novel biomarkers to detect CP. Exosomal microRNAs (Exo-miRNAs) located in the serum may be potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets for CP.Objective:To identify differentially expressed Exo-miRNAs (DE-Exo-miRNAs) in the serum of CP patients, we performed a bioinformatics analysis.Methods:The dataset GSE128508 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The analysis was carried out using BRB-ArrayTools and significance analysis of microarrays (SAM). The target genes of DE-S-Exo-miRNAs were predicted by miRWalk databases. Further gene ontology (GO) term and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses were performed with plug-in ClueGO in Cytoscape software 3.7.0. Subsequently, the interaction regulatory network between encoded proteins of target genes was performed with the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes (STRING) database and analyzed using plug-in Molecular Complex Detection (MCODE) and cytoHubba in Cytoscape software 3.7.0.Results:We identified 227 DE-Exo-miRNAs in the serum. Further analysis using the miRWalk database identified 5164 target genes of these miRNAs. The protein–protein interaction (PPI) regulatory network of 1912 potential target genes for hub 10 up-regulated miRNAs with high degrees and one down-regulated miRNAs were constructed using the STRING database and Cytoscape software. The functional analysis using Cytoscape software tool highlighted that target genes involved in pancreatic cancer. Acinar-ductal metaplasia (ADM) in the inflammatory environment of CP is a precursor of pancreatic cancer. Subsequently, we constructed a network of target genes associated with ADM and their miRNAs.Conclusions:Exo-miRNAs in the serum as well as their target genes may be promising targets for the early diagnosis and treatment of CP. In addition, we identified potential Exo-miRNAs involved in ADM that is a precursor of pancreatic cancer associated with CP.

T1 mapping for the diagnosis of early chronic pancreatitis: correlation with Cambridge classification system.

This study aims to determine if T1 relaxation time of the pancreas can detect parenchymal changes in early chronic pancreatitis (CP). This study retrospectively analyzed 42 patients grouped as no CP (Cambridge 0; n = 21), equivocal (Cambridge 1; n = 12) or mild CP (Cambridge 2; n = 9) based on magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography findings using the Cambridge classification as the reference standard. Unenhanced T1 maps were acquired using a three-dimensional dual flip-angle gradient-echo technique on the same 1.5 T scanner with the same imaging parameters. There was no significant difference between the T1 relaxation times of Cambridge 0 and 1 group (p = 0.58). There was a significant difference (p = 0.0003) in the mean T1 relaxation times of the pancreas between the combined Cambridge 0 and 1 (mean = 639 msec, 95% CI: 617, 660) and Cambridge 2 groups (mean = 726 msec, 95% CI: 692, 759). There was significant difference (p = 0.0009) in the mean T1 relaxation times of the pancreas between the Cambridge 0 (mean = 636 msec, 95% CI: 606, 666) and Cambridge 2 groups (mean = 726 msec, 95% CI: 692,759) as well as between Cambridge 1 (mean = 643 msec, 95% CI: 608, 679) and Cambridge 2 groups (mean = 726 msec, 95% CI: 692,759) (p = 0.0017). Bland-Altman analysis showed measurements of one reader to be marginally higher than the other by 15.7 msec (2.4%, p = 0.04). T1 mapping is a practical method capable of quantitatively reflecting morphologic changes even in the early stages of chronic pancreatitis, and demonstrates promise for future implementation in routine clinical imaging protocols. T1 mapping can distinguish subtle parenchymal changes seen in early stage CP, and demonstrates promise for implementation in routine imaging protocols for the diagnosis of CP.

Interobserver Reliability of the Endoscopic Ultrasound Criteria for the Diagnosis of Early Chronic Pancreatitis: Comparison between the 2009 and 2019 Japanese Diagnostic Criteria.

In 2009, diagnostic criteria for early chronic pancreatitis (DCECP2009) were proposed by the Japan Pancreas Society. This study aimed to evaluate the interobserver reliability (IOR) of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) criteria for diagnosis of early chronic pancreatitis (ECP) between DCECP2009 and 2019 diagnostic criteria for ECP (DCECP2019) to assess the validity of the revision from the perspective of EUS findings. Among patients who underwent a detailed observation of the pancreas by EUS at our institution between January 2018 and March 2019, EUS images of 97 patients were extracted. Images were reviewed by 12 gastrointestinal endoscopy experts (eight pancreatologists, group A and four nonpancreatologists, group B). The overall kappa (K)-values for the IOR of the DCECP2009 EUS criteria were 0.424 and 0.563:0.231 for groups A:B, whereas the overall K-values for the DCECP2019 criteria were 0.618, and 0.733:0.442 for groups A:B. Regarding changes in the final diagnosis of ECP based on clinical features and EUS findings, 20 cases were definite ECP, 53 were probable ECP, and 24 were normal according to DCECP2009. In contrast, seven were definite ECP, 19 were probable ECP, and 71 were normal according to DECEP2019. IOR of DCECP2019 was higher than that of DCECP2009, which indicates an improvement in precision.

Evidence for diagnosis of early chronic pancreatitis after three episodes of acute pancreatitis: a cross-sectional multicentre international study with experimental animal model

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is an end-stage disease with no specific therapy; therefore, an early diagnosis is of crucial importance. In this study, data from 1315 and 318 patients were analysed from acute pancreatitis (AP) and CP registries, respectively. The population from the AP registry was divided into AP (n = 983), recurrent AP (RAP, n = 270) and CP (n = 62) groups. The prevalence of CP in combination with AP, RAP2, RAP3, RAP4 and RAP5 + was 0%, 1%, 16%, 50% and 47%, respectively, suggesting that three or more episodes of AP is a strong risk factor for CP. Laboratory, imaging and clinical biomarkers highlighted that patients with RAP3 + do not show a significant difference between RAPs and CP. Data from CP registries showed 98% of patients had at least one AP and the average number of episodes was four. We mimicked the human RAPs in a mouse model and found that three or more episodes of AP cause early chronic-like morphological changes in the pancreas. We concluded that three or more attacks of AP with no morphological changes to the pancreas could be considered as early CP (ECP).The new diagnostic criteria for ECP allow the majority of CP patients to be diagnosed earlier. They can be used in hospitals with no additional costs in healthcare.

Endoscopic Ultrasonography Findings of Early and Suspected Early Chronic Pancreatitis.

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is associated with a risk of pancreatic cancer and is characterized by irreversible morphological changes, fibrosis, calcification, and exocrine and endocrine insufficiency. CP is a progressive disease with a poor prognosis and is typically diagnosed at an advanced stage. The Japan Pancreas Society proposed criteria for early CP in 2009, and their usefulness has been reported. Recently, a mechanism definition was proposed by the International Consensus Guidelines and early CP was defined as a disease state that is not based on disease duration. CP is diagnosed by computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and endoscopic cholangiopancreatography, which can detect calcification and dilation of the pancreatic ducts; however, detecting early CP with these modalities is difficult because subtle changes in early CP occur before established CP or end-stage CP. Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is useful in the diagnosis of early CP because it allows high-resolution, close-up observation of the pancreas. In addition to imaging findings, EUS with elastography enables measurement of the stiffness of the pancreas, an objective diagnostic measure. Understanding the EUS findings of early CP is important because a histological diagnosis is problematic, and other modalities are not capable of detecting subtle changes in early CP.

Endosonographic features in patients with non-alcoholic early chronic pancreatitis improved with treatment at one year follow up.

Since the prevention of early chronic pancreatitis (ECP) into chronic pancreatitis might be critical for the reduction of pancreatic cancer, we tried to clarify the pathophysiology of ECP patients, focusing on ECP patients without alcoholic chronic pancreatitis. 27 ECP patients without alcoholic chronic pancreatitis and 33 patients with functional dyspepsia with pancreatic enzyme abnormalities (FD-P) were enrolled in this study. Diagnosis of ECP was made when imaging findings showed the presence of more than 2 out of 7 endoscopic ultrasound features. Duodenal degranulated eosinophils and glucagon-like peptide 1 producing cells were estimated by immunostaining. There were no significant differences in characteristics and psychogenic factors between ECP and FD-P patients. Interestingly, endoscopic ultrasound score in ECP patients significantly improved, albeit clinical symptoms in ECP patients showed no improvement at one year follow up. The extent of migration of duodenal degranulated eosinophils in FD-P patients was significantly higher compared to that in ECP patients. The levels of elastase-1 and trypsin in ECP patients with improved endoscopic ultrasound features were significantly reduced by the treatment. Further studies will be needed to clarify whether clinical symptoms and endoscopic ultrasound features in ECP patients without alcoholic chronic pancreatitis were improved in longer follow up study.

Endoscopic ultrasound-based multimodal evaluation of the pancreas in patients with suspected early chronic pancreatitis.

Diagnosis of early chronic pancreatitis is a clinical challenge and hindered by the lack of a gold standard. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and the endoscopic pancreatic function test (ePFT) are the most sensitive morphological and functional methods in this setting. EUS-elastography allows for the quantification (strain ratio) of pancreatic fibrosis, and the dynamic evaluation of the main pancreatic duct compliance provides additional information. We developed a multimodal EUS-based approach for the evaluation of the pancreas by integrating these four methods in a single procedure. We aim to describe morphological and functional pancreatic abnormalities in patients with clinical suspicion of chronic pancreatitis and inconclusive EUS findings by using the multimodal EUS-based approach. This was a prospective, cross-sectional, observational study of patients with clinically suspected chronic pancreatitis and indeterminate EUS criteria of the disease. EUS criteria of chronic pancreatitis, quantitative pancreatic elastography, ePFT and compliance of the main pancreatic duct were evaluated in a single procedure. In total, 53 patients with 3-4 EUS criteria of chronic pancreatitis were included (mean age 39.7 years, 29 male). Strain ratio was abnormally high in all patients. Peak bicarbonate concentration was decreased in 43 patients (81.1%) and the main pancreatic duct compliance was reduced in 41 patients (77.3%). Some 34 patients (64.1%) had abnormal results at EUS, elastography, ePFT and compliance of the main pancreatic duct. A multimodal EUS-based test for the morphological and functional evaluation of the pancreas is presented, which allows detecting mild pancreatic abnormalities in patients with suspected early chronic pancreatitis. The presence of abnormal morphological and functional evaluation of the pancreas could support the clinical suspicion of early chronic pancreatitis in the appropriate clinical setting.

3D MR elastography of the pancreas in children.

Early diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis (CP)remains elusive. Preliminary data suggest that MR elastography (MRE) may have diagnostic value in the identification of CP. We sought to measure pancreas stiffness by MRE in healthy children and to compare measured values to stiffness values in pediatric patients with acute recurrent pancreatitis (ARP) or CP. Under IRB approval, 49 healthy controls volunteered to be included, and 14 patients with ARP or CP that underwent 3D MRE on a 1.5T MR scanner were included in the study. A soft passive driver was utilized and vibrated at 40Hz. Regions of interest for measurement of pancreatic stiffness were drawn by two blinded readers and statistical analysis were performed for comparisons between the two groups. Mean age of the healthy controls was 11 ± 2.7years and mean pancreas stiffness was 1.7 ± 0.3 (Reader 1) and 1.7 ± 0.3 (Reader 2) kPa. For patients with ARP or CP, mean age was 12.6 ± 4.4years and mean pancreas stiffness was 0.9 ± 0.2 (Reader 1) and 1.1 ± 0.3 (Reader 2) kPa. Pancreas stiffness was significantly lower in patients with ARP and CP as compared to healthy controls (p < 0.001). Between readers, there was a strong and statistically significant agreement on measured pancreas stiffness (r = 0.81; p < 0.001). Bland-Altman difference analysis showed a mean bias of only 0.05kPa (95% limits of agreement: - 0.49 to +0.58) CONCLUSION: MRE of the pancreas can be performed in pediatric patients. Through this study, we have defined normal pancreas stiffness for children and have shown decreases in measured stiffness in patients with ARP or CP compared to healthy controls. 3D MRE of the pancreas offers a novel approach for detecting pancreatic disease based on changes in tissue mechanical properties.

Early changes in the urine proteome in a diethyldithiocarbamate-induced chronic pancreatitis rat model

Without homeostasis mechanisms, urine accumulates early changes in biomarkers and can be a better and earlier biomarker source than blood, especially for chronic diseases. This study tests whether early changes can be detected in a rat model of chronic pancreatitis induced by intraperitoneal injection of diethyldithiocarbamate. Urinary proteins from three rats were profiled by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. Compared with before injection, fifty differential proteins that had human orthologs were significantly changed in the chronic pancreatitis rats. At week 2, fifteen differential proteins were identified when no obvious pathological changes had yet appeared. Among them, twelve proteins were altered at the other two time points, five had previously been associated with chronic pancreatitis. Inflammatory cytokines infiltration, acinar disruption and fibrosis were detected at week 3 and week 4, at which points fourteen identified differential proteins had been reported to be differentially expressed in the serum or pancreatic tissue of chronic pancreatitis patients and other animal model studies. These include proteins that are significant in acute-phase response (FETUA, F2, FINC and REG3G), extracellular matrix organization (COMP, FINC) and tissue remodeling (CSPG4, GAS6). REG3G has been described abnormally expressed in several human digestive system diseases such as chronic pancreatitis. SignificanceThis study demonstrate that changes caused by chronic pancreatitis can be reflected early in urinary proteins. New clues for the early diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis can be found even with only the small number of model animals used.

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) guided fine needle biopsy (FNB) with the Procore™ needle provides inadequate material for the histological diagnosis of early chronic pancreatitis.

diagnosis of early chronic pancreatitis (CP) is hampered due to the low accuracy of current imaging techniques and the absence of methods for histological confirmation. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle biopsy (EUS-FNB) for the histological diagnosis of early CP. a prospective, cross-sectional, single-center study was designed. Consecutive patients referred for EUS with a clinical suspicion of CP were evaluated for inclusion into the study. Inclusion criteria were age > 18 years and indeterminate EUS findings for the diagnosis of CP according to the Rosemont classification. EUS-FNB of the body of the pancreas was performed with Procore™ needles. Tissue samples were immersed into a methanol-based buffered preservative solution for cytohistological evaluation. The quality of the samples obtained and the histological findings were evaluated. Procedure-related complications were recorded. the study was stopped after eleven patients were included due to safety concerns and poor diagnostic yield. The mean age of the patients was 50.3 years (range 33-70 years) and six were male. Samples were of poor quality in five cases, but were sufficient for cell-block evaluation. An inflammatory infiltration with mild fibrosis was identified in two cases and neither inflammatory infiltration nor fibrosis was identified in three cases. With regard to the other six cases, isolated inflammatory cells were observed in one case, although the cellularity was poor and unsuitable for cytological evaluation in five cases. There was one major complication (9.1%) of acute pancreatitis that required hospitalization for 48 hours. EUS-FNB is technically feasible in patients with EUS findings categorized as indeterminate for a CP diagnosis. However, the diagnostic yield is poor and there is a non-negligible risk of complications.

Chronic pancreatitis.

Summarize key clinical advances in chronic pancreatitis reported in 2016. Early diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis remains elusive. Recent studies suggest that endoscopic ultrasound may be less accurate than previously thought and new MRI techniques may be helpful. Genetic predisposition may independently affect the clinical course of chronic pancreatitis and the risk for pancreatic cancer. Cigarette smoking may have a greater negative impact on chronic pancreatitis than previously thought and moderate alcohol consumption may be protective. A multidisciplinary approach is necessary for the treatment of type 3 diabetes and nutritional deficiencies in chronic pancreatitis. Although endoscopic therapy remains a reasonable first-line option in treating chronic pancreatitis and its complications, early surgical intervention may be indicated for pain in select patients. Newer endoscopic ultrasound and MRI techniques are being evaluated to help with the early diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis. Both genetic predisposition and cigarette smoking are increasingly recognized as having a major impact in the course of the disease and the risk for pancreatic cancer. Endoscopic therapy is well tolerated and effective for the treatment of chronic pancreatitis and its complications although an early surgical approach for pain may be associated with improved clinical outcomes.

Diagnosis of early chronic pancreatitis (CP) by using an endoscopic ultrasound-based multimodal evaluation

Patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and synchronous liver metastases (PACLM) have an extremely limited life expectancy. We performed a single-center analysis to explore the clinical results and prognostic factors of patients with PACLM receiving palliative care.We retrospectively reviewed 189 patients undergoing palliative care at Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital over a 15-year period. Clinical characteristics, survival condition, and factors associated with survival were analyzed. Treatment methods included palliative bypass surgery, percutaneous transhepatic cholangiodrainage, drug analgesia, symptomatic treatment, and other nutritional or supportive measures.The overall survival (OS) was 3.6 months for all patients. Multivariate analysis for clinical features showed that Karnofsky performance score (KPS), ascites, cigarette smoking, primary tumor size, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were prognostic variables with statistical significance (P < 0.05). The patients were classified into three groups of patients according to how many of these 5 risk factors were present: 0–1, 2, or 3–5 risk factors. The median OS of the 3 groups of patients were 5.0, 3.3, and 2.5 months, respectively, with a notable statistical significance (P < 0.0001).KPS<80, ascites, cigarette smoking, primary tumor size≥5 cm, and LDH≥250U/L are effective predictive factors of poor prognosis for patients with PACLM. The stratification of treatment outcome groups based on these factors facilitates evaluation of individual prognosis and can guide clinical decisions.

Significance of normal appearance on endoscopic ultrasonography in the diagnosis of early chronic pancreatitis

Background and Objectives:The Rosemont classification (RC) was developed as a consensus-based standard for the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis (CP) by endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS), however, it is more complicated than the conventional scoring system. We have noticed that in the early stages of CP, it is not unusual to observe pancreas with abnormal appearance coexisting with the areas of normal parenchyma. The aim of this study was to investigate the validity of a “normal” pancreas appearance and to evaluate the usefulness of modified diagnostic criteria in comparison to the traditional EUS criteria and the RC.Patients and Methods:One hundred and seventy-seven patients who had undergone both EUS and endoscopic retrograde pancreatography (ERP) within 2 months were enrolled in the study, and patients with pancreatic cancer were excluded from the study. ERP findings were used as the gold standard for the diagnosis of CP. The EUS images obtained were classified according to both the RC and our new modified criteria. The latter includes an additional criterion to the modified traditional criteria: fine-reticular pattern (F-RP) was defined as a normal pancreatic parenchyma. We compared the accuracy between the new modified EUS criteria and the RC.Results:(1) Normal or equivocal findings on ERP were obtained for 132 patients; 113 patients had F-RP on EUS. In contrast, F-RP was found in only 6 out of 45 CP cases on ERP (P < 0.0001). (2) We investigated the diagnostic capability of our new criteria for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography normal/equivocal pancreas compared to the traditional criteria. In cases where fewer than two points were defined as normal, the incidence of normal pancreas was significantly higher based on the new criteria than on the traditional criteria (P = 0.002). (3) No significant differences were found between the new criteria and the RC across all ERP grades.Conclusion:Our new proposed “normal-added EUS criteria” for diagnosing CP was equivalent to the RC.