title: The revised Japanese clinical diagnostic criteria for chronic pancreatitis.
abstract: In Japan, we are now using the clinical diagnostic criteria for chronic pancreatitis (CP) that were revised in 2001 to add the findings of magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography to the criteria compiled by the Japan Pancreas Society (JPS) in 1995. Because the current criteria are set for diagnosing advanced CP, they are unlikely to improve patients' prognoses. In addition, they seem unsuitable for current clinical practice because exocrine pancreatic function tests, which have become obsolete in Japan, are included in the diagnostic factors. For these reasons, the Research Committee on Intractable Pancreatic Diseases supported by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, the JPS and the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology have revised the criteria. The revised criteria are unique in that they contain an introduction to the concept of early CP. It is a challenge aimed at improvement of the long-term prognosis of CP patients by early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention in this disease. We need to determine and clarify the clinico-pathological outcome of early CP by a prospective long-term follow-up of the patients in this category.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8574, Japan. tshimosegawa@int3.med.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tooru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimosegawa
authors.forename: Keisho
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kataoka
authors.forename: Terumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kamisawa
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Miyakawa
authors.forename: Hirotaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohara
authors.forename: Tetsuhide
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Naruse
authors.forename: Naohiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sata
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suda
authors.forename: Morihisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirota
authors.forename: Yoshifumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takeyama
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shiratori
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hatori
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Otsuki
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Atomi
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugano
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D049448:Cholangiopancreatography, Magnetic Resonance / Q000379:methods*; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D010186:Pancreatic Function Tests / Q000379:methods; D050500:Pancreatitis, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D012955:Societies, Medical; D013997:Time Factors