title: A case of autoimmune pancreatitis responding to steroid therapy. Evidence of histologic recovery.
abstract: We report a case of autoimmune pancreatitis without obvious evidence of autoimmunological participation, which responded well to steroid treatment and provided histologic and radiographic evidence for this improvement. A 68-year-old woman presented abdominal fullness, diffuse pancreatic swelling on abdominal computed tomography and ultrasonography, and diffuse narrowing of the main pancreatic duct on endoscopic retrograde pancreatography. Transgastric aspiration needle biopsy of the body of the pancreas performed under endoscopic ultrasonography showed severe atrophy of acinar cells, infiltration of T lymphocytes. She was diagnosed as having autoimmune pancreatitis without obvious evidence of autoimmunological participation. Administration of 30 mg/day of predonisolone was started. Computed tomography showed marked improvement of the diffuse swelling of the pancreas, and endoscopic retrograde pancreatograpy showed amelioration of the narrowing of the main pancreatic duct after the start of treatment. Pancreatic tissue obtained by needle biopsy after the start of treatment with predonisolone revealed marked histologic improvement, including amelioration of the fibrosis, and infiltration of inflammatory lymphocytes, and a substantial increase in the number of pancreatic acinar cells. The present report is the first to demonstrate histologic recovery of autoimmune pancreatitis after steroid therapy.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Internal Medicine, Showa University School of Medicine, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Tsunao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Imamura
authors.forename: Junichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ukegawa
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Seki
authors.forename: Akitoshi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ikegami
authors.forename: Fuyuhiko
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yamamura
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mikami
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aoyagi
authors.forename: Junichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Niikawa
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mitamura
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D011239:Prednisolone