The problem of prognosis in pancreatitis.

Prognosis in pancreatitis is at best difficult and uncertain. Certain complicating factors, however, occur in statistically established percentages of chronic cases: Calcification in 35 to 50 per cent, diabetes (usually mild) in 15 to 25 per cent, and cysts, pseudo-cysts or abscesses in 10 to 15 per cent. Steatorrhea (which may cause severe malnutrition) and diabetes are more common in cases in which calcification develops.