Autoimmune pancreatitis
(AIP) is an increasingly recognized type of pancreatitis that can be difficult to distinguish from but which responds to treatment with , particularly prednisone. Although autoimmune pancreatitis is quite rare, it constitutes an important problem for both patients and their clinicians: the disease commonly presents itself as a tumorous mass which is diagnostically indistinguishable from pancreatic cancer, a disease that is much more common in addition to being very dangerous. Hence, some patients undergo pancreatic , which is associated to substantial and morbidity, out of the fear by patients and clinicians to undertreat a malignancy. However, surgery is not a good treatment for this condition as AIP responds well to immunosuppressive treatment. There are two categories of AIP: Type 1 and Type 2, each with distinct clinical profiles.
Underlined words are explained — tap any of them.
Symptoms — what it feels like
- ·Painless , mass
Causes — why it happens
- ·IgG4-related disease
How it's found
- ·, , serology
Treatment
- · (first line), azathioprine, rituximab