title: Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms and chronic pancreatitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs) may present with clinical and radiological pictures resembling those of chronic pancreatitis (CP).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients suffering from CP with those of patients suffering from IPMN. To assess whether CP is associated with an increased risk of developing IPMN.
  
  
  METHODS
  In our departments, from 1981 to 1998, we prospectively followed 473 patients suffering from CP, including 93 cases of chronic obstructive pancreatitis (COP), and 45 patients with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of IPMN. Another 6 patients had an initial diagnosis of CP and a subsequent diagnosis of IPMN.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with IPMN were more often female (females 53 vs. 15%; p < 0.001), were older (mean age 63.1 vs. 42.8 years; p < 0.001), drank less alcohol (19 vs. 107 g/day; p < 0.001) and smoked fewer cigarettes (mean 8 vs. 21 cigarettes/day) than CP patients. These results were also confirmed when considering only patients with COP. The 6 patients with a subsequent diagnosis of IPMN were males (p n.s.) with a mean age of 51.4 years (p < 0.05). Only 1 patient was a drinker (p < 0.05) and 4 were smokers (p n.s.). Comparing CP and IPMN, logistic regression analysis selected sex, age, alcohol and smoking, whereas only sex and age were selected when comparing COP vs. IPMN.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In general patients with IPMN present different epidemiological characteristics than those with CP and the subgroup with COP. The clinical and pathological features suggest that in most cases IPMN is the cause of CP and not vice versa.
authors.affiliation: Gastroenterology and Endoscopy Unit, University of Verona, Verona, Italy. giorgio.talamini@univr.it
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Talamini
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zamboni
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Salvia
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Capelli
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sartori
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Casetti
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bovo
authors.forename: Bruna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vaona
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Falconi
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bassi
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scarpa
authors.forename: Italo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vantini
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pederzoli
mesh_terms: D002288:Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D021441:Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D050500:Pancreatitis, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D011446:Prospective Studies