Clinical Characteristics of Patients With Chronic Pancreatitis With or Without Prior Acute Pancreatitis Are Different

Objective: The aim of the study is to clarify the clinical characteristics of patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP) who had no prior acute pancreatitis (AP) attack.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed patients with CP who were admitted to our center between January 2012 and January 2020.

Results: A total of 274 patients were divided into the following 3 groups: group A: CP without prior AP (n = 103 [37.6%]), group B: CP preceded by a single episode of AP (n = 39 [14.23%]), and group C: CP preceded by recurrent AP (n = 132 [48.18%]). At the diagnosis, patients in group A had a higher incidence of pancreatic duct stones (41.7% vs 25.8%, P = 0.012), higher proportion of idiopathic CP (68.9% vs 48.5%, P = 0.001), and higher mean pancreatic volume change rate (37.61% vs 10.48%, P = 0.007) compared with Group C. Patients in group A underwent the most episodes of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy therapy among the 3 groups (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Approximately 37.6% of patients had no prior AP attack before CP diagnosis. Patients with CP without prior AP had higher incidence of pancreatic duct stones and pancreas volume shrank faster.