Diagnostic in chronic pancreatitis: imaging and function tests
- Author:
Stefan Kahl
;
Andreas Leodolter
;
Bernhard Glasbrenner
;
Peter Malfertheiner
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- From:
Chinese Journal of Hepatobiliary Surgery
2003;9(5):257-261
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Chronic pancreatitis is a well-defined disease on histopathological grounds, but for clinical purpose diagnosis is mostly made without histological specimens. Imaging procedures and complementary pancreatic function tests are therefore the diagnostic main-stay in patients with a suggestive clinical history. The correct diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis is easy in late stages but difficult in early stages of the disease.In these early stages of the disease both, endoscopic retrograde pancreatography (ERP), and endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) are methods with reliable diagnostic accuracy. Whether EUS is superior to ERP must be evaluated by further studies.Evaluation of exocrine pancreatic function is only complementary to morphological evaluation, due to the fact that common tubeless function tests do not detect mild to moderate exocrine pancreatic insufficiency with adequate accuracy.
