Poster - 167
Clinical presentation and management of chronic pancreatitis in children
Ş Yalçın, T Soyer, İ Karnak, AÖ Çiftçi, FC Tanyel
Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine Department of Pediatric Surgery
Aim: To evaluate the clinical features, management and outcome of chronic pancreatitis in children.
Patients and Methods: Children evaluated for the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis between 2010-2015, were investigated in respect to the etiology, clinical findings, complications, therapeutic approach and outcome retrospectively.
Results: Twenty cases with a median age of 6 years (1-15), and male to female ratio of 1:1 were included in the study. The median duration of symptoms was 1 year (6 months-6 years), and the median number of recurrent attacks was 4 (2-10). The etiologies were long common channel (n=5), idiopathic (n=4), pancreas divisum (n=3), cystic fibrosis (n=3), hereditary pancreatitis (n=1), hyperlipidemia (n=1), duodenal duplication cyst (n=1), annular pancreas (n=1), choledocholithiasis (n=1). Radiologic evaluation with ultrasonography (n=20), magnetic resonance cholangiography (n=19), computed tomography (n=8) revealed the morphologic changes of ductal dilatation (n=9), stones (n=6), pancreatic calcification (n=4), atrophy (n=2), with complications of pseudocyst (n=6) and ascites (n=3). Therapeutic management with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) included sphincterotomy (n=16) and pancreatic duct stenting (n=9). Recurrence of attacks in four of these16 cases necessitated surgical approach. Surgical management included cholecystoduodenostomy (n=2), choledochoduodenostomy (n=1), hepaticojejunostomy (n:1), pancreatic cyst excision (n=2), and duplication cyst excision (n=1). Three of the operated cases required further endoscopic therapy. Clinical features and management are summarized in Table 1.
Conclusion: Chronic pancreatitis in children has a wide spectrum of etiologic factors with significant complications. Therapeutic approach depends on the etiology and clinical findings, including endoscopic interventions and surgical management. Some refractory cases may necessitate further treatment strategies and long-term follow-up.