Chronic pancreatitis and extrapancreatic cancer: a retrospective study among 181 patients with chronic pancreatitis

Abstract

The relationship between chronic pancreatitis (CP) and extrapancreatic cancer has been debated in the recent years. In prospective studies, it has been found that pancreatic cancer develops in 0-5% of patients with chronic pancreatitis. Many papers describe an increased relative risk for developing extrapancreatic cancer in patients suffering from chronic pancreatitis. In this study including 181 patients with CP, we found 14 patients with extrapancreatic cancer (three of these had two different types of cancer). No patient had pancreatic cancer. It was found that the respiratory airways and upper gastrointestinal tract were the dominating locations (five and four cases, respectively), but also genital and hemolymphopoietic cancers were represented (four and two cases, respectively). Two patients had metastatic cancer with unknown primary tumor. The patients with cancer tended to be older than those without cancer. The patients with CP had a 2.43 times greater risk of developing cancer than the general Danish population (age and sex standardized comparison). The relatively large number of cancers in the upper gastrointestinal tract and respiratory airways suggest that tobacco and alcohol may be responsible, as these organs have the highest exposure to these compounds, which are well known carcinogens.