Longitudinal pancreaticojejunostomy in chronic relapsing pancreatitis with onset in childhood.

Despite the rarity of chronic relapsing pancreatitis in children, in the last 15 years at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and its Children's Hospital we have used longitudinal pancreaticojejunostomy in treatment of eight patients whose symptoms began in childhood. Duration of symptoms ranged from 2 to 36 years. Seven of the eight patients had hereditary pancreatitis. Recurrent epigastric pain was characteristic and serum amylase was elevated in all patients on admission or shortly thereafter. Demonstration of an obstructed dilated pancreatic duct in all and stones in seven of eight patients by operative pancreatography in three early patients and by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in five others established the therapeutic problem and facilitated treatment by removal of stones and longitudinal pancreaticojejunostomy. Results were uniformly excellent, both in the early postoperative period and in long-range follow-ups. Early diagnosis and early surgical drainage of the obstructed pancreatic duct by longitudinal pancreaticojejunostomy are desirable objectives in chronic relapsing pancreatitis with onset in childhood.