Involvement of pancreatic and bile ducts in autoimmune pancreatitis.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the involvement of the pancreatic and bile ducts in patients with autoimmune pancreatitis.


METHODS
Clinical and cholangiopancreatographic findings of 28 patients with autoimmune pancreatitis were evaluated. For the purposes of this study, the pancreatic duct system was divided into three portions: the ventral pancreatic duct; the head portion of the dorsal pancreatic duct; and the body and tail of the dorsal pancreatic duct.


RESULTS
Both the ventral and dorsal pancreatic ducts were involved in 24 patients, while in 4 patients only the dorsal pancreatic duct was involved. Marked stricture of the bile duct was detected in 20 patients and their initial symptom was obstructive jaundice. Six patients showed moderate stenosis to 30%-40% of the normal diameter, and the other two patients showed no stenosis of the bile duct. Although marked stricture of the bile duct was detected in 83% (20/24) of patients who showed narrowing of both the ventral and dorsal pancreatic ducts, it was not observed in the 4 patients who showed involvement of the dorsal pancreatic duct alone (P=0.0034).


CONCLUSIONS
Both the ventral and dorsal pancreatic and bile ducts are involved in patients with autoimmune pancreatitis.
Department of Internal Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital, 3-18-22 Honkomagome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8677, Japan. kamisawa@cick.jp
Terumi
T
Kamisawa
Yuyang
Y
Tu
Naoto
N
Egawa
Hitoshi
H
Nakajima
Kouji
K
Tsuruta
Atsutake
A
Okamoto
D000368:Aged; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D001652:Bile Ducts / Q000473:pathology*; D049448:Cholangiopancreatography, Magnetic Resonance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010183:Pancreatic Ducts / Q000473:pathology*; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000473:pathology*