Faculty Bibliography

This chapter provides an overview of the physiology of pancreatic exocrine function and the pathophysiology of pancreatic stone formation. The natural history and the clinical sequelae are reviewed. Potential pharmacologic intervention is addressed and a detailed description and analysis of the endoscopic management is outlined.

Mucinous ductal ectasia (MDE) is an uncommon disease characterized by a patulous duodenal papilla extruding mucus, and a pancreatogram showing dilation with amorphous filling defects, communication of the mass with the pancreatic duct, the mass usually being located in the head of the pancreas. We have recently treated three men and three women, mean age 66 years, with MDE. All had abdominal pain, while 33% had the clinical picture of pancreatic insufficiency. Three patients had recurrent pancreatitis, and three had biliary obstruction. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and imaging studies showed a patulous papilla draining mucus in six, pancreatic duct dilation in six, filling defects in six, and communication between the cystic mass and the pancreatic duct in five. A distinct finding not previously reported was a separate pancreatic and biliary orifice in two. Three patients had cancer, two cases being metastatic and one being found at surgery (not suspected preoperatively). Therapy included endoscopic biliary drainage in two, surgery in three, while one refused surgery. Of the operated patients, two underwent resection, one of whom had benign disease and the other cancer; both patients are doing well 14 and 32 months after surgery, respectively. One patient underwent pancreatojejunostomy without symptomatic relief, and developed cholangitis 18 months after surgery that was successfully treated with endoscopic drainage. The other two patients treated with biliary drainage died one and 13 months later, respectively. We conclude that MDE has characteristic pancreatographic and endoscopic findings, and that it is commonly associated with malignant degeneration. Surgical resection is the treatment of choice, since MDE is premalignant, and surgery may be curative when the malignancy is resectable.

Pancreatic ductal stones may be responsible for attacks of acute pancreatitis (chronic relapsing pancreatitis) or exacerbations of chronic pain in patients with chronic pancreatitis. This study was undertaken to identify those patients with predominantly main pancreatic duct stones most amenable to endoscopic removal and to determine the effects on the patients' clinical course with such removal. Thirty-two patients with ductographic evidence of chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic duct stones underwent attempted endoscopic removal. Of the patients, 71.9% had complete or partial stone removal and 67.7% improved after endoscopic therapy. Symptomatic improvement was most evident in the group of patients with chronic relapsing pancreatitis. Factors favoring stone removal included (1) three or less stones, (2) stones confined to the head and/or body of the pancreas, (3) absence of a downstream stricture, (4) stone diameter less than or equal to 10 mm, and (5) absence of impacted stones. After successful stone removal, 25% of patients had regression of the ductographic changes of chronic pancreatitis and 41.7% had a decrease in the main pancreatic duct diameter. The only complication from therapy was mild pancreatitis in 8.2%. These data suggest that removal of pancreatic duct stones may result in symptomatic improvement. A longer follow-up will be necessary to determine whether endoscopic success results in long-standing clinical improvement and/or permanent regression of the morphologic changes of chronic pancreatitis.