Difference in Clinical Manifestations of Chronic Pancreatitis between the Japanese and Western Peoples

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Abstract
A statistical study was made on surgically diagnosed chronic pancreatitis which appeared in the Japanese literature as well as our own cases, and the following results were obtained. 1) Chronic pancreatitis associated with severe symptoms is very rare in Japan in contrast to that in Western countries. 2) Cases of chronic pancreatitis associated with alcoholism and biliary tract diseases are rarely encountered in Japan. 3) Pancreatic calculi are associated with pancreatitis in a high frequency of 30-50% in Western countries, while the combination is found very infrequently in Japan. 4) The incidence of pancreatitis caused by Ascaris lumbricoirles seems rapidly decreasing in Japan since 1945. On the contrary, there is a tendency toward increase in number of cases with pancreatic calculi. 5) When serum levels of amylase and lipase are determined during and after operation on 50 cases of upper abdominal conditions, there is no case complicated with post-operative pancreatitis. 6) There exists a marked difference in clinical manifestations of chronic pancreatitis between the Japanese and Western peoples, which may be ascribed to the difference of the mode of living, especially of dietary habit.

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