Idiopathic recurrent pancreatitis. An approach to diagnosis and treatment.

The cause of recurrent acute pancreatitis can be identified in the majority of patients. A small group of patients in whom an etiological association is not obvious is characterized as idiopathic recurrent pancreatitis (IRP). During the last seven years, we used endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and sphincter of Oddi (SO) manometric pressure studies to investigate 116 patients initially diagnosed as IRP. Forty-four of the 116 patients were found to have a demonstrable cause of their pancreatitis. Appropriate therapeutic intervention was carried out in 43 of these patients with a favorable outcome in the majority of patients noted during long-term follow-up.