Two cases of chronic pancreatitis with pseudocyst complicated by obstructive jaundice

We recently treated two cases of chronic pancreatitis with obstructive jaun dice due to compression of the common bile duct by pancreatic pseudocyst. T he two cases were males admitted with the complaint of icteric skin color. The first, a 46-year-old male, admitted with the complaint of icteric skin color. He was treated by operative cystojejunostomy after percutaneous drai nage of the pseudocyst and percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage. The other case was a 58 year-old male who admitted with the complaint of icteri c skin color. He had an infected pseudocyst in the pancreas and was endosco pically treated. Both of them were discharged with favorable clinical cours e and normal laboratory findings after the treatment. The former patient re mained well 11 months after treatment, but the latter patient died from nec rotizing pancreatitis and septic shock 6 months after treatment. Most cases of obstructive jaundice associated with pseudocysts appear to be due to fi brotic stricture of the intrapancreatic portion of the common bile duct rat her than due to compression of the bile duct by the pseudocyst. In a patien t with secondary pancreatic infection or obstructive jaundice following pan creatic disease, differentiating between these two conditions is an importa nt aspect of accurate diagnosis and therapy. Herein we report two unusual c ases of chronic pancreatitis with pseudocyst complicated by obstructive jau ndice.