Maggio 2013 - Volume XXXII - numero 5
Ricerca
IRCCS Materno-Infantile “Burlo Garofolo”, Trieste
Indirizzo per corrispondenza: federicominen@gmail.com
Key words: Pancreatitis, Children, Etiology, Case reports
Background - Etiologies of acute pancreatitis in children are more variable than in
adults and have different causes.
Aims - The aims of this study were: 1) to assess the etiological factors of acute and
recurrent pancreatitis in a paediatric population from a tertiary care hospital; 2) to
assess the usefulness of genetic and imaging studies in diagnosing etiologies of pancreatitis.
Materials and methods - Thirty-four children (median age 11 years, 23 males) with
acute pancreatitis and eleven with recurrent pancreatitis were retrospectively studied
to assess etiology of pancreatitis in children.
Results - The most common etiologies of acute pancreatitis were medications (11/34)
and biliary tract diseases (9/34), whereas systemic diseases accounted for a small
percentage of cases. Among patients with recurrent episodes, biliary anomalies
were the most common cause (6/11), whereas only 2 out of 11 patients with recurrent
pancreatitis presented a hereditary cause.
Conclusions - The study highlights that etiologies of acute pancreatitis in children are
variable. Epidemiology of acute pancreatitis could be influenced by the characteristics
of each centre. Anatomic anomalies should be ruled out and genetic causes
should be considered in recurrent cases. Genetic causes appeared rarer than previously
reported.
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