title: The incidence of pancreatic and extrapancreatic cancers in Japanese patients with chronic pancreatitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although an association between chronic pancreatitis and malignancies has been reported in the Western literature, in Japan there have been few reports that have dealt with this issue. We investigated the incidence of pancreatic and extrapancreatic cancers in Japanese patients with chronic pancreatitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 170 Japanese patients with definite chronic pancreatitis with respect to the occurrence of pancreatic and extrapancreatic cancers during follow-up and compared the incidence with that reported in the Western literature.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patients developed 29 cancers including 5 pancreatic cancers. Four patients had two different types of cancer. The extrapancreatic cancer incidence (24/170: 14.1%) was significantly higher than in the West (8.3%, p < 0.01). The major organs in which cancer developed were stomach (n=9), pancreas (n=5), esophagus (n=4), colon (n=3), lung (n=2) and hemopoietic tissue (n=2). The overall incidence (8.2%) of associated cancers of the digestive system including, stomach, intestine, liver, biliary duct, and gallbladder, was significantly higher than in the West (1.3%, p < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The risk of extrapancreatic cancers during the course of chronic pancreatitis is significantly increased in Japan than in Western countries. In particular, cancers of the digestive system are frequently associated with chronic pancreatitis in Japan.
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. kamisawa@cick.jp
authors: Terumi
authors: T
authors: Kamisawa
authors: Yuyang
authors: Y
authors: Tu
authors: Naoto
authors: N
authors: Egawa
authors: Hitoshi
authors: H
authors: Nakajima
authors: Kouji
authors: K
authors: Tsuruta
authors: Atsutake
authors: A
authors: Okamoto
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050500:Pancreatitis, Chronic / Q000150:complications*