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Review
. 2021 Sep 1;37(5):504-511.
doi: 10.1097/MOG.0000000000000769.

Painful chronic pancreatitis - new approaches for evaluation and management

Dhiraj Yadav  1 , Tonya M Palermo  2 , Anna E Phillips  1 , Melena D Bellin  3 , Darwin L Conwell  4
Affiliations
Review

Painful chronic pancreatitis - new approaches for evaluation and management

Dhiraj Yadav et al. Curr Opin Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

Purpose of review: Management of abdominal pain in patients with chronic pancreatitis is often suboptimal. We review recent data on the epidemiology and new approaches for managing pain in chronic pancreatitis.

Recent findings: Chronic pancreatitis duration does not appear to affect the pain experience. Pain pattern in chronic pancreatitis patients frequently changes and is not related to traditional patient and disease-related factors. Psychologic comorbidities, i.e. anxiety and depression, are frequent in patients with chronic pancreatitis, and are associated with more severe pain and pain interference. Adjunctive treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, may positively influence pain management in chronic pancreatitis. Total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplantation (TPIAT) is an increasingly adopted treatment option in painful chronic pancreatitis. Ongoing multicenter studies will help define optimal candidates, predictors of successful pain remission and diabetes outcomes after TPIAT. Pancreatic quantitative sensory testing, a promising technique to interrogate nociception and sensory response, holds promise to identify patients with central sensitization. Initial studies show feasibility to stratify patients into defined pain profiles, and future studies will explore if these can help in prognostication of pain therapy.

Summary: Several lines of investigations currently under evaluation are likely to have a positive impact on the management of pain in chronic pancreatitis.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03322644.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts.

References

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      *Ref 1–3 are a series of three recent consensus expert guidelines on invasive treatments for chronic pancreatitis endorsed by international societies.

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    1. Kempeneers MA, Issa Y, Verdonk RC et al. Pain patterns in chronic pancreatitis: a nationwide longitudinal cohort study. Gut 2020.

      **In this cohort study of over 900 patients with chronic pancreatitis, during a median of 4 years, patients provided information on their pain experience yearly through questionnaires. The authors peformed several analyses on the patterns of pain, and the impact of a variety of patiet and disease related factors on the pain peroerience.

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