Chronic Pancreatitis

Key points

• Chronic pancreatitis is an inflammatory condition which can ultimately affect both the exocrine and endocrine functions of the pancreas.
• pain is typically worse 15 to 30 minutes following a meal
• steatorrhoea: symptoms of pancreatic insufficiency usually develop between 5 and 25 years after the onset of pain
• diabetes mellitus develops in the majority of patients. It typically occurs more than 20 years after symptom begin Investigation
• abdominal x-ray shows pancreatic calcification in 30% of cases