Painless Tropical Chronic Pancreatitis with Extensive Calcification.

ABSTRACT

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is caused by a wide variety of causes such as alcohol, biliary diseases, trauma, infections, autoimmune diseases, and hereditary disorders. Patients with CP present with disabling abdominal pain, weight loss, exocrine insufficiency, and diabetes and are at risk for malignant transformation. Pancreatic calcification narrows down the diagnosis of CP. Uncommon causes of calcific pancreatitis include autoimmune pancreatitis, hereditary pancreatitis, tropical pancreatitis, groove pancreatitis, and pancreatitis associated with cystic fibrosis, Ascaris, and ectopic pancreatic tissue. Calcific pancreatitis in young diabetics of tropical countries could be either due to alcohol or tropical pancreatitis. We report a young man with weight loss and steatorrhea, but without abdominal pain whose evaluation led to a diagnosis of tropical CP and diabetes.