About Chronic Pancreatitis (2)
Diagnostic Criteria for Chronic Pancreatitis
The Japan Pancreas Society's grounds for diagnosing chronic pancreatitis are as follows.
1 Marked pancreatic duct dilation and beaded changes
2 Presence of pancreatic stones
3 Reduced exocrine pancreatic function
If one or more of the above items apply, chronic pancreatitis is diagnosed.
The 2019 diagnostic criteria for chronic pancreatitis have been changed so that, even when none of these apply, the condition is classified as early chronic pancreatitis if pancreatitis symptoms continue.
Indeed, if the items above apply, it is chronic pancreatitis that will never be cured for the rest of the patient's life, and a diagnosis is meaningless if the disease cannot be cured.
I, Hikaru Ishii, make it my treatment policy to diagnose early chronic pancreatitis when both marked pancreatic duct dilation and elevated blood pancreatic enzymes are present, and to cure it completely.
