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Pancreatic cancer causing acute pancreatitis: a comparative study with cancer patients without pancreatitis and pancreatitis patients without cancer

  • Original article
  • Published:
Journal of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Sciences

Abstract

Background/purpose

Although pancreatic cancer produces upstream obstructive pancreatitis, acute pancreatitis is a less common manifestation of pancreatic cancer. This study aimed to clarify the subgroup of pancreatic cancer patients who present with an episode of acute pancreatitis (Group I) in comparison with a matched group of pancreatic cancer patients without pancreatitis (Group II) and another group of acute pancreatitis patients without pancreatic cancer (Group III).

Methods

This was a retrospective comparative study of 18 patients in Group I, 300 patients in Group II and 141 patients in Group III.

Results

The mean age of Group I was 63.7 years and the male to female ration was 1:0.3. Serum CA 19-9 levels were elevated in 80 %. The main pancreatic duct was incompletely obstructed in 7 patients. There were no significant differences in location of tumor, clinical stage, resection rate and survival months between Group I and II. Acute pancreatitis secondary to pancreatic cancer was more likely to be mild (94 vs. 72 %, p < 0.05) and relapsed (39 vs. 16 %, p < 0.05) compared with Group III.

Conclusions

Anatomic evaluation of the pancreas should be performed in patients with acute pancreatitis with no obvious etiology, even if the pancreatitis is mild, to search for underlying malignancy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital, 3-18-22 Honkomagome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8677, Japan

    Yohei Minato, Terumi Kamisawa, Taku Tabata, Seiichi Hara, Sawako Kuruma, Kazuro Chiba, Go Kuwata, Takashi Fujiwara, Hideto Egashira, Koichi Koizumi, Itaru Saito, Yuka Endo & Satomi Koizumi

  2. Department of Endoscopy, Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    Junko Fujiwara, Takeo Arakawa & Kumiko Momma

  3. Department of Surgery, Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    Masanao Kurata & Goro Honda

Authors
  1. Yohei Minato
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  2. Terumi Kamisawa
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  3. Taku Tabata
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  4. Seiichi Hara
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  5. Sawako Kuruma
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  6. Kazuro Chiba
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  7. Go Kuwata
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  8. Takashi Fujiwara
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  9. Hideto Egashira
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  10. Koichi Koizumi
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  11. Itaru Saito
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  12. Yuka Endo
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  13. Satomi Koizumi
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  14. Junko Fujiwara
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  15. Takeo Arakawa
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  16. Kumiko Momma
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  17. Masanao Kurata
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  18. Goro Honda
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Terumi Kamisawa.

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Minato, Y., Kamisawa, T., Tabata, T. et al. Pancreatic cancer causing acute pancreatitis: a comparative study with cancer patients without pancreatitis and pancreatitis patients without cancer. J Hepatobiliary Pancreat Sci 20, 628–633 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00534-013-0598-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00534-013-0598-y

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