MEDICAL PROGRESS - CHRONIC-PANCREATITIS

In 1788 Cawley reported on a “free living young man” who had died of emaciation and diabetes and whose postmortem examination revealed multiple pancreatic calculi.1 In the two centuries since that early description of chronic pancreatitis, literally thousands of reports dealing with this disease have been published, yet chronic pancreatitis remains an enigmatic process of uncertain pathogenesis, unpredictable clinical course, and unclear treatment. Classification and Pathology Acute and chronic pancreatitis are distinguished from each other on the basis of structural and functional criteria. In acute pancreatitis, the gland is normal before the attack and can return to normal after resolution. © 1995, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.