Original ArticleAge-related changes in the pancreas identified by EUS: a prospective evaluation
Section snippets
Study design
This was a prospective clinical study, with a target recruitment of 120 individuals. Patients were stratified according to age as follows: less than 40 years, 40 to 60 years, and more than 60 years. Patients scheduled to undergo EUS of the upper-GI tract for a nonpancreaticobiliary indication or routine upper endoscopy were considered for the study. Informed consent was obtained from all eligible patients before study enrollment. Each study patient underwent a detailed EUS examination of the
Results
Of 125 patients recruited for the study, 120 (median age 52 years, IQR 40-61 years) met enrollment criteria. Informed consent was obtained from all patients. Patient demographic data are tabulated in Table 2. Although 60 patients initially were enrolled into the 40 to 60 years age group, 4 patients in this group were reassigned to other age groups because of age discrepancies. Overall, 53% of patients recruited had no history of tobacco use. The majority of patients denied ingestion of alcohol
Discussion
EUS represents a major advance in GI imaging technology. EUS of the pancreas is particularly useful, because the gland can be visualized from the duodenum or the stomach. EUS has less risk than endoscopic retrograde pancreatography (ERP), traditionally the imaging test of choice and the criterion standard for chronic pancreatitis.3, 4, 5, 6, 7 In general, there is a good concordance between EUS and ERP in the diagnosis of moderate or severe pancreatitis but not for mild disease.2, 3, 8, 9, 10
To
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2018, PancreatologyCitation Excerpt :Pancreatic fibrosis is well recognised in a number of autopsy series of normal patients, individuals with chronic alcohol excess, smokers and patients with renal disease without underlying chronic pancreatitis [51–53]. Furthermore Rajan et al. have demonstrated EUS features consistent with minimal change chronic pancreatitis in patients without clinical evidence of pancreatic disease undergoing EUS for non-pancreatobiliary indications [54]. Recognition that fibrosis needs to be pathological in nature and associated with inflammatory change is key to the proposed mechanistic definition of chronic pancreatitis [1].
See CME section; p. 445.
Supported in part by the Miles and Shirley Fiterman Center for Digestive Diseases, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota.
Oral presentation at the annual Digestive Diseases Week, May 19-23, 2002, San Francisco, California (Gastrointest Endosc 2002;55:AB95).