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Review
. 2009 Nov;6(11):2763-82.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph6112763. Epub 2009 Nov 4.

Alcoholic pancreatitis: pathogenesis, incidence and treatment with special reference to the associated pain

Raffaele Pezzilli  1 , Antonio M Morselli-Labate
Affiliations
Review

Alcoholic pancreatitis: pathogenesis, incidence and treatment with special reference to the associated pain

Raffaele Pezzilli et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2009 Nov.

Abstract

Alcoholic pancreatitis continues to stir up controversy. One of the most debated points is whether from onset it is a chronic disease or whether it progresses to a chronic form after repeated episodes of acute pancreatitis. Histological studies on patients with alcoholic pancreatitis have shown that the disease is chronic from onset and that alcoholic acute pancreatitis occurs in a pancreas already damaged by chronic lesions. Genetic factors may also play a role in the pathogenesis of alcoholic disease. The incidence of chronic alcoholic pancreatitis seems to have decreased in the last twenty years. Finally, recent therapeutic studies which have shown medical or surgical approaches capable of reducing the pain episodes in chronic pancreatitis patients will be described.

Keywords: alcoholic pancreatitis; endoscopy; gene modification; histology; inflammation; pain; patghogenesis; surgery.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Rate of patients discharged from the Italian hospitals in the year 2005 having the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis and stratified according to age.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Rate of patients discharged from the Italian hospitals in the year 2005 having the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis and stratified according to gender and age.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Trend in the rate of patients discharged from the Italian hospitals from 1999 to 2005 having a diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Typical pathological appearance of human chronic pancreatitis: Fibrosis, loss of acinar tissue, enlarged ducts and stones within some of them.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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