Some of these patients with enzyme elevation had sclerosing cholangitis. Curiously, patients with exocrine insufficiency did not always have pancreatic duct changes. This can be manifested as steatorrhea or as abdominal pain. The acute management of a Crohn's patient with pancreatic pain does not differ from our approach to the case related above. Labs, endoscopic findings, and radiologic tests must be correlated with clinical presentations and treatments should be individualized.
Several questions remain unanswered in terms of the specific relationship the two diseases share.
Perhaps answers to these and more questions can shed light on the mysteries of Crohn's disease and idiopathic pancreatitis. In general, the most important lesson from this case is the awareness that inflammatory bowel disease is a risk factor for pancreatitis. Pancreatic function in chronic inflammatory bowel disease. Pancreatic associated with chronic Ulcerative Colitis. Barthet m et al.