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Diagnosis and Management of Autoimmune Pancreatitis

  • Pancreas (V Chandrasekhara, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Opinion statement

Although autoimmune pancreatitis is a relatively uncommon pancreatic disorder, it is an important consideration in the differential diagnosis of jaundice and pancreatic masses to avoid unnecessary surgical resection. The clinical diagnosis of autoimmune pancreatitis involves considering multiple pieces of information including the pancreatic imaging, serum IgG4 level, presence of characteristic other involvement, and histologic findings. Unlike other pancreatic disorders, this condition rapidly responds to treatment with steroids. In the more common disease subtype (type 1 autoimmune pancreatitis) disease relapses can occur necessitating the use of maintenance treatment with low-dose steroids, steroid-sparing immunomodulators, or rituximab. This chapter reviews the diagnosis and treatment of the autoimmune pancreatitis subtypes.

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Abbreviations

AIP:

Autoimmune pancreatitis

GEL:

Granulocytic epithelial lesion

ICDC:

International Consensus Diagnostic Criteria

IDCP:

Idiopathic ductcentric chronic pancreatitis

IgG4-RD:

IgG4-related disease

References and Recommended Reading

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, 410 West Tenth Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Phil A. Hart MD & Somashekar G. Krishna MD, MPH

  2. Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kansai Medical University Hirakata Hospital, Osaka, Japan

    Kazuichi Okazaki MD

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  1. Phil A. Hart MD
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  2. Somashekar G. Krishna MD, MPH
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  3. Kazuichi Okazaki MD
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Correspondence to Phil A. Hart MD.

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Phil A. Hart declares that he has no conflicts of interest. Somashekar G. Krishna declares that he has no conflicts of interest. Kazuichi Okazaki declares that he has no conflicts of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Pancreas

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Hart, P.A., Krishna, S.G. & Okazaki, K. Diagnosis and Management of Autoimmune Pancreatitis. Curr Treat Options Gastro 15, 538–547 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11938-017-0147-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11938-017-0147-x

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