I am a physician myself. MDE is a rare condition but is recently being diagnosed more frequently. MDE is a premalignant growth that lines the insides of the pancreatic ducts like a rug. This abnormal growth of cells produces mucin, which like mucous, blocks the pancreatic ducts. This in turn causes bouts of pancreatitis.
Patients can have abdominal pain, bloating, and diarrhea.
In my case I only had one severe bout of pancreatitis occurring just five months prior to my surgery. I may have had two previous milder episodes of pancreatitis in 1996 and 1987, but I didn't know it at the time. I just thought I had a bad stomach virus that lasted about 24-48 hours. In a sense, I had a case of painless chronic pancreatitis. Apparently, this is a chronic condition that can destroy the pancreas or turn into a pancreatic malignancy.