Pathological diagnosis of autoimmune pancreatitis / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

Autoimmune pancreatitis （AIP） is a rare disease， and its diagnosis should be made based on a comprehensive evaluation of clinical， radiological， serological， and pathological findings. At present， AIP is classified into two subtypes of type 1 （identified as the pancreatic manifestation of IgG4-related disease） and type 2 （identified as the pancreas-specific disorder independent of IgG4）. Although type 1 and type 2 AIP seem to have different pathogeneses， they tend to have similar radiological findings and exhibit a good response to corticosteroid therapy. This article mainly reviews the histopathological features of the two subtypes of AIP， especially the diagnostic challenges encountered in the interpretation of specimens obtained through endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration/biopsy， to as to help pathologists enhance the accuracy of the diagnosis of AIP.