Rijkers AP, et al. - The risk of pancreatic cancer after the first episode of acute pancreatitis was evaluated. The findings revealed that the first episode of acute pancreatitis could be related to pancreatic cancer; however, this risk was mainly found in patients who progressed to chronic pancreatitis.

Methods

• The authors prospectively enrolled all consecutive patients with the first episode of acute pancreatitis between March 2004 and March 2007.
• For this study, follow-up was based on hospital records audit, radiological imaging, and patient questionnaires.
• They stratified outcome based on the development of chronic pancreatitis.

Results

• A total of 731 patients were included.
• In this study, the median follow-up time was 55 months.
• The authors diagnosed progression to chronic pancreatitis in 51 patients (7.0%).
• The incidence rate per 1000 person-years for developing pancreatic cancer was 9.0 in this group (95% confidence interval, 2.3-35.7).
• Among the group of 680 patients who did not develop chronic pancreatitis, the incidence rate per 1000 person-years for developing pancreatic cancer in this group was 1.1 (95% confidence interval, 0.3-3.3).
• Therefore, in patients who developed chronic pancreatitis, the rate ratio of pancreatic cancer was almost 9 times higher compared with those who did not (P = 0.049).