DIAGNOSIS OF CHRONIC-PANCREATITIS - PRESENTING FEATURES AND DIAGNOSTIC DELAY

The diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis continues to present difficultie s, The nonspecific nature of the symptomatology, its low, prevalence a nd the limited value of morphological and functional tests in the earl y stages are the most common causes of delay in diagnosis, Our aim was to analyze the most significant clinical manifestations and the diagn ostic features of chronic pancreatitis, distinguishing between alcohol ic and nonalcoholic etiologies. We studied 158 patients, 136 (86.1%) w ith alcoholic and (13.9%) with nonalcoholic chronic pancreatitis, The initial symptomatology, the age at diagnosis, the delay in diagnosis f rom the onset of the clinical signs and the type of diagnosis (inciden tal or suspected) were considered for each patient, Men predominated i n both the alcoholic and the nonalcoholic pancreatitis groups (97.8% a nd 68.2%, respectively), The mean ages at onset and diagnosis were 38 and 50.6 years, respectively, in alcoholic chronic pancreatitis and 44 and 55 years in the nonalcoholic group; the differences between the t wo parameters were statistically significant, The most common clinical signs in alcoholic chronic pancreatitis were abdominal pain (81.6%) a nd episodes of acute pancreatitis (64%), while patients with nonalcoho lic pancreatitis presented abdominal pain (59%), diarrhea (40.9%) and weight loss (36.4%), The delay in diagnosis from the onset of the clin ical manifestations was 5.8 years (6.1 years in alcoholic and 4.3 year s in nonalcoholic pancreatitis, The diagnosis was incidental in 34% of cases of alcoholic chronic pancreatitis and in 50% of cases in the no nalcoholic group.