title: Chronic calcifying pancreatitis in Taiwan: a multicentric study and comparison with western countries.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study investigates the clinical features of chronic calcifying pancreatitis (CCP) in Taiwan and also the comparative differences in the disorder as it affects orientals and occidentals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical records at seven tertiary hospitals relating to patients diagnosed with CCP between 1976 and 1996 are reviewed and analyzed. Ninety patients were enrolled. Defining the calcification of the pancreas is achieved by plain film, ultrasonography, computed tomography, or histology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CCP afflicts men more frequently than it does women, by a ratio of 3.5:1 (70 men and 20 women). The mean age is 45 years (male: 46 female: 41.4). For fifty-two patients (57.8%), alcohol is the major cause of the condition, while in others, the causes are non-alcoholic (idiopathic: 31; biliary: 4; hereditary: 3). Alcoholism is mainly associated with males and younger sufferers. The major complications are diabetes mellitus (53.3%), cysts or pseudocysts (21.1%), and biliary stricture or stones (20%). Pancreatic adenocarcinoma and splenic vein thrombosis were found in six and five patients, respectively. Three patients died from cancers of other than pancreatic origin (lung: 1;liver: 1;bile duct: 1). Thirty-three patients were treated surgically of which thirteen (39.4%), including one with pancreatic auto transplantation, improved. Fifty-seven patients received medical treatment but only eleven (19.3%) improved.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The clinical features of CCP in Taiwan are notably similar to those manifesting in western countries and in Japan. With the changes in life style and increased alcoholic consumption in Taiwan, the prevalence of CCP may increase and its demographic features may alter in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital.
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Soon
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.forename: X Z
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: T H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: T H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D013624:Taiwan; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States