Painless chronic pancreatitis: experiences from a high-volume center

INTRODUCTION

Although abdominal pain is the most prevalent and disabling symptom in patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP), there are also patients who have painless CP.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with a diagnosis of CP. A total of 279 patients with definite CP with completed demographic and clinical data were included in the final analysis.

RESULTS

There were 75 (26.9%) patients with painless CP. These patients had a significantly higher mean age at diagnosis, 61.7 years, than the 52.5 years of patients with pain (p < 0.001). Painless and painful CP had similar rates of diabetes mellitus (DM) (28.4% vs. 31.6%) and pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI) (50.0% vs. 52.3%). Painless CP had lower rates of alcoholic etiology, 36.0%, than the 52.5% in painful CP (p < 0.05). Patients older than 55 at the time of CP diagnosis were associated with painless CP with an adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of 3.27 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.62-6.60]. Alcoholic etiologies were not associated with painless CP, aOR of 0.51 (95% CI: 0.25-0.91).

CONCLUSION

Patients with painless CP had a significantly higher mean age than patients with painful CP and increased aOR for those older than 55 at CP diagnosis. Painless and painful CP patients had similar rates of DM and PEI, confirming the necessity of routine follow up in all patients with CP.

Paraduodenal pancreatitis - problem in the groove

BACKGROUND

Paraduodenal pancreatitis (PDP) is a particular form of chronic pancreatitis (CP) occurring in and around the duodenal wall. Despite its low prevalence, this rare condition presents a significant challenge in clinical practice.

METHODS

We retrospectively analysed the electronic medical charts of all patients with a diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis and identified those with PDP, between January 1999 and December 2020.

RESULTS

There were 35 patients diagnosed with PDP (86% males and 14% females); median age of 56 ± 11 (range 38-80). Alcohol overconsumption was reported in 81% and smoking in 90% of patients. Abdominal pain was the leading symptom (71%), followed by weight loss, nausea and vomiting, jaundice, and diarrhoea. In 23 patients (66%), recurrent acute pancreatitis attacks were noted. Focal duodenal wall thickening was present in 34 patients (97%), cystic lesions in 80%, pancreatic duct dilatation in 54% and common bile duct dilatation in 46%. Endoscopic treatment was performed on nine patients (26%) and five patients (14%) underwent surgery. Complete symptom relief was reported in 12 patients (34%), partial symptom relief in three (9%), there was no improvement in five (14%), data were not available in three (9%) and 12 (34%) patients died before data analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

PDP is a rare form of pancreatitis, most commonly occurring in the 5th or 6th decade of life, with a predominance in males and patients with a history of smoking and high alcohol consumption. Focal thickening and cystic lesions of the duodenal wall are the most common imaging findings, followed by pancreatic duct and common bile duct dilatation. A minority of patients requires surgery.

Present and future role of endoscopic retrograde cholangiography in primary sclerosing cholangitis

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a rare, inflammatory cholestatic liver disease that causes biliary strictures which can lead to secondary complications. About 30-50% of PSC patients develop dominant strictures (DS) in the biliary tree, which are both the cause of jaundice and bacterial cholangitis as well as predilection spots for development of neoplastic development. Cancer is the most common cause of death in PSC. A central concern is to distinguish malignant from benign strictures, which eventually is done by invasive methods to obtain a brush cytology or biopsy sample, in most cases via endoscopic retrograde cholangiography-pancreatography (ERCP). Since medical therapies, like ursodesoxycholic acid or immunosuppressive drugs have no proven effect, therapeutic ERCP has become the primary management strategy to improve symptoms and in some patients may slow down disease progression. This article aims at outlining the current and emerging methods in ERCP in PSC patients.

Conservative Treatment of Chronic Pancreatitis: A Practical Approach

BACKGROUND

Chronic pancreatitis is a long-standing, inflammatory condition of the pancreas that leads to the progressive damage and loss of function of pancreatic parenchyma and to the development of possible locoregional and systemic medical complications.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this review, we tried to summarize the current evidence on non-surgical treatment trying to suggest a practical approach to the management of chronic pancreatitis.

RESULTS

Besides the unclear pathophysiological mechanism and a poorly unknown epidemiology, chronic pancreatitis is a complex syndrome that displays different possible challenges for physicians. Despite being traditionally considered as a benign disease, chronic pancreatitis encompasses 10-year mortality rates which are superior to the ones reported for some of the most common cancers.

CONCLUSIONS

Chronic pancreatitis encompasses the management of multiple and complex medical co-morbidities that needs to be understood and addressed in a multidisciplinary specialist context.

Risk of Developing Pancreatic Cancer in Patients with Chronic Pancreatitis

Background: Patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP) have an increased risk of developing pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). We present data on PDAC in one of the most extensive European single-centre cohort studies of patients with CP. Methods: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data of patients with CP was performed. Aetiology of CP was determined according to the M-ANNHEIM classification system and only patients with definite CP > 18 years at data analysis were included. The final dataset included 581 patients with definite CP diagnosed between 2003 and 2018. Results: At CP diagnosis, there were 371 (63.9%) males and 210 (36.1%) females (median age 57 years, range 2–86). During 3423 person-years of observation, six pancreatic cancers were diagnosed (0.2% year). The mean time between diagnosis of CP and the occurrence of PDAC was 5.0 years (range 2.7–8.6). None of the cancer patients had a family history of PDAC. Diabetes mellitus (DM) was present in five of six (83.3%) patients with PDAC: in three patients before and in two after CP diagnosis. Clinical/laboratory signs of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI) were present in five of six (83.3%) patients with PDAC: in two at diagnosis of CP and in three after diagnosis. The mean survival time was 4 months after the diagnosis of PDAC (range 0.5–13). PDAC occurred significantly more often (p < 0.001) in two groups of patients without previous acute pancreatitis (AP): 2 of 20 patients (10%) with low body mass index (BMI) and PEI and in 3 of 10 (30%) patients with high BMI and DM at diagnosis of CP. Conclusions: Patients with CP have a high risk of developing PDAC, although risk is low in absolute terms. Our data suggest the possibility of defining subgroups of patients with a particularly elevated risk of PDAC. Such a possibility would open a path to personalised decision making on initiation of PDAC surveillance of patients with no previous episode of AP, (i) with low BMI and PEI, or (ii) elevated BMI and DM.

Radiation dose in cone beam CT guided ERCP

PURPOSE

To evaluate the practical and radiation safety considerations in utilization of 3-D imaging through cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).

METHOD

ERCP procedures were performed using an Artis Q interventional suite (Siemens Healthineers), including 42 procedures with CBCT. Some CBCT cases used the standard "DR" exposure protocol and some used the low dose protocol "DR care". Data on x-ray radiation doses were retrospectively collected and to help optimize technical factors surrounding the procedure and compared to radiation exposure data of patients undergoing conventional ERCP.

RESULTS

The median dose area product was 24.4 Gycm² for one DR volume and 5.07 Gycm² for one DR care volume. The median total dose area product was 6.52 Gycm² for conventional ERCP, 48.9 Gycm² for procedures using DR and 19.7 Gycm² when using DR care. Conventional ERCP resulted in a significantly lower radiation dose than procedures using either CBCT protocols (p < 0.001). However, conventional ERCP showed a large number of outliers with higher dose at the level of, or surpassing, CBCT procedures.

CONCLUSIONS

For less complex procedures with small x-ray doses and short fluoroscopy times conventional 2-D x-ray technique is clinically sufficient and utilizes less radiation dose than CBCT methods, but there is a wide range of doses and extreme outliers have been observed. CBCT can facilitate ERCP in cases with difficult ducal anatomy, possibly reducing procedural time, x-ray exposure time and need for contrast injections. Methods for prediction on high radiation ERCPs are needed to standardize and optimize patient selection for CBCT-ERCP.

Endoscopic and Conservative Management of Chronic Pancreatitis and Its Complications

Chronic pancreatitis is a progressive inflammatory disease of the pancreas potentially giving rise to several complications. For this reason, patients need long-term care and treatment by medical, interventional, and sometimes surgical measures. This article reviews current state-of-the-art strategies and guidelines for treating chronic pancreatitis with conventional and endoscopic measures.

Palliative therapy in pancreatic cancer-interventional treatment with stents

Interventional treatment with stents in pancreatic cancer is a topic that developed during recent years and new fields of palliative stent therapy have evolved. The increasing life expectancy of patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer increases the need for clinical and cost effective therapeutic interventions. Current literature, guidelines, practice and evidence were reviewed. Besides the most obvious biliary stenting via endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), pancreatic and gastroduodenal stenting as well as percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC) and the rapidly growing field of endosonographic stent implantation in the palliative care of patients with pancreatic cancer are being discussed from several points of view in this review.

Deficiency of fat-soluble vitamins in chronic pancreatitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) patients are at risk for fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) deficiency, but available studies are small and heterogeneous. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the prevalence of fat-soluble vitamins deficiency in CP patients.

METHODS

Medline was searched up to January 2016 for case series and case-control studies reporting prevalence of fat-soluble vitamin deficiency in CP patients. The prevalent deficiency rate was pooled for included studies, and deficiency rate between CP and controls, with relative odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) calculated for case-control studies.

RESULTS

Twelve studies including 548 patients included. With a random-effect model, the pooled prevalence rate of vitamin A, D and E deficiency were 16.8% (95%CI 6.9-35.7), 57.6% (95%CI 43.9-70.4) and 29.2% (95%CI 8.6-64.5) respectively, with considerable heterogeneity (I² = 75%, 87.1% and 92%). Only one study evaluated vitamin K deficiency. The pooled OR for vitamin D deficiency in CP cases compared with controls was 1.17 (95% CI 0.77-1.78). Sensitivity analyses showed lower prevalence of vitamin A and E, and higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in high-quality studies. The rate of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency did not seem affect the deficiency rates, while the use of different cut-offs influences results and heterogeneity for vitamin E, but not A.

CONCLUSIONS

Fat-soluble vitamins deficiency is frequent in CP patients, with considerable heterogeneity. There is, however, no apparent increased risk of vitamin D deficiency in CP compared to controls. Larger, high-quality studies are necessary to better estimate the prevalence of fat-soluble vitamins deficiency, including vitamin K.

Long-term outcome of self expandable metal stents for biliary obstruction in chronic pancreatitis

CONTEXT

Insertion of a self-expandable metal stent is still controversial for treatment of benign common bile duct stenosis but can be a valuable alternative to surgical treatment.

OBJECTIVE

Aim of our study was to analyze the efficacy of covered and uncovered self-expandable metal stent in patients with chronic pancreatitis and common bile duct stenosis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Twenty patients with common bile duct stenosis due to alcoholic chronic pancreatitis were retrospective analyzed. All patients had advanced chronic pancreatitis, presenting with calcifications in pancreatic head. Uncovered self-expandable metal stent (uSEMS) were used in 11 patients (3 females, 8 males) while in 9 patients (3 females, 6 males) partially covered self-expandable metal stent (cSEMS) were inserted. All patients treated with self-expandable metal stent had contraindications for surgery.

RESULTS

Overall mean follow up time was 155 weeks: 206 (52-412) weeks in uSEMS, and 93 (25-233) weeks in cSEMS, respectively. Stent patency was in mean 118 weeks: 159 (44-412) weeks in uSEMS and 67 (25-150) weeks in cSEMS (P=0.019). In the uSEMS group, reintervention was necessary in 5 patients (45%) due to stent obstruction, whereas in the cSEMS group 4 patients (44%) needed reintervention (2 obstructions, 2 migration). Stent migration is an early complication, compared to obstruction (P&lt;0.05), and in cSEMS obstruction occurred significantly earlier compared to uSEMS (P&lt;0.05).

CONCLUSION

Patency of uSEMS was significantly longer compared to partially cSEMS. Available self-expandable metal stent, unfortunately, do not meet the demands on successful treatment of benign common bile duct stenosis.

Causes and mechanisms in acute pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis (AP) presents clinically with either mild or severe clinical course. There are no effective specific drugs for treatment of AP today. Basic knowledge about pathophysiological processes is the key for the development of novel therapeutic principles. This article provides a review on the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in the early phase of AP.

[Percutaneous, ultrasound-targeted fine-needle puncture biopsy (liver, pancreas, intestine) and ultrasound-targeted pancreatic duct puncture]

Ultrasonically guided fine-needle aspirations were done in the liver of 42 cases of malignancy established later by autopsy and biopsy. The sensitivity was 95.3%. Only in one case, in a metastasis of renal carcinoma, precise tumour classification was not possible cytologically. Pancreatic malignancies were biopsied in 28 cases with later verified diagnoses at post mortem and biopsy; the sensitivity was 85.7%. One pancreatic head adenocarcinoma tumour classification was not possible cytologically. In 16 cases of gastrointestinal carcinoma verified by operation the sensitivity was 93.8%. In one cirrhotic gastric carcinoma only insufficient cytological material could be aspirated despite several biopsies. There were no false positive results in any puncture. The cytological results in all malignancies (n = 86) agreed in 97.7% with later established histological tumour classifications. Two clinically relevant complications were observed (biliary peritonitis, haemoperitoneum). In 15 percutaneous fine-needle pancreaticographies it has been shown to be an advantage that pancreatic juice can be aspirated prior to contrast medium filling of the pancreatic duct. Hyperinstillation into the organ can thus be prevented. In addition, the pancreatic juice aspirate can be investigated cytochemically. Only part of the patients (indurating changes of the pancreas such as chronic pancreatitis) experienced an unpleasant or painful sensation. For this reason such patients should be given analgesics.

Percutaneous decompression of an intraintestinal balloon--case report

A study was designed in order to determine whether waterfilled intragastric balloons are superior to airfilled balloons for facilitating weight reduction. In the first volunteer the small intestine was obstructed by the dislocated waterfilled balloon. This complication was successfully treated by transabdominal fine needle puncture of the balloon. In contrast to airfilled balloons waterfilled balloons offer two advantages: water does not escape through the very thin wall of the balloon; the intraabdominal location of a waterfilled balloon is easily checked by sonography.

[Effect of gliquidone and glibenclamide following oral administration]

Gliquidone shows a good blood sugar lowering effect over the wide dose range of 30-60 mg in fasting subjects with a healthy metabolism, in spite of the wide range. This behavior suggests that a good therapeutic application is to be expected in diabetics being treated with sulfonylureas.