Recurrent acute pancreatitis caused by a gastric duplication communicating with an aberrant pancreas.

A 24-year-old female patient who had suffered from recurrent bouts of acute pancreatitis for over 3 years was found on endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography to have an aberrant pancreatic duct that terminated in a cyst. An aberrant lobe of pancreas had been discovered at exploratory laparotomy 3 years previously and was left untreated. Excision of the aberrant lobe of pancreas and accompanying gastric duplication cyst was curative. This case illustrates the importance of obtaining endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography in all young individuals with recurrent pancreatitis to detect this rare, but curable, cause of pancreatitis.