Abnormal pancreatic imaging in Crohn's disease: prevalence and clinical features.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to delineate the incidence and the clinical features of abnormal pancreatic imaging in patients suffering from Crohn's disease.
METHODS: The subjects of this retrospective study were 255 patients with Crohn's disease who were treated at our unit and who were followed-up for more than 3 years.
RESULTS: Sixteen of the 255 Crohn's disease patients (6.3%) had morphological abnormalities of the pancreas. The cumulative incidence of abnormal pancreatic imaging as a complication of Crohn's disease was 5.2% at 5 years and 6.3% at 10 years after the initial diagnosis of Crohn's disease. Four of the patients with Crohn's disease already showed abnormal pancreatic imaging at the initial examination. Morphological examinations of the pancreas showed that none of the sixteen suffered from severe conditions. The abnormal pancreatic imaging was unrelated to the therapeutic regimens employed for Crohn's disease or to its activity. When patients with Crohn's disease with and without abnormal pancreatic imaging were compared, there were no significant differences in any of the background clinical features of Crohn's disease. When we compared pancreatic imaging according to the type of Crohn's disease, in the solely aphthous ulcerations type, the occurrence of abnormal pancreatic imaging was significantly higher (P = 0.02) than that in the other types. In 7 patients who had suffered from Crohn's disease for more than 10 years, the clinical course of abnormal pancreatic imaging was not progressive, regardless of the progression of Crohn's disease.
CONCLUSIONS: It is suggested that abnormal pancreatic imaging is not serious a complication of Crohn's disease, and is unrelated to the course of Crohn's disease.