title: Acute recurrent pancreatitis: a possible clinical manifestation of ampullary cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute recurrent pancreatitis still poses diagnostic difficulties. The coexistence or moreover the causative relationship of carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater and acute recurrent pancreatitis is fairly rare.
  
  
  METHODS
  We present a case of carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater that presented with acute recurrent necrotizing pancreatitis complicated with pseudocysts. A diagnosis of malignancy in the ampulla was only made after several ERCP attempts due to residual inflammation at the periampullary area.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Malignancy at the ampulla of Vater causing recurrent episodes of pancreatitis represents a realistic risk and attempts to diagnose the underlying cause should always take into account the possibility of cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petrou
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bramis
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Alexandros
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Papalambros
authors.forename: Eleftherios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mantonakis
authors.forename: Evangelos
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Felekouras
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D014670:Ampulla of Vater / Q000473:pathology; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D003138:Common Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010192:Pancreatic Pseudocyst / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D012008:Recurrence