INFLAMMATORY LESIONS OF THE PANCREAS IN INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD
Charles Frey M.D.1 and
S. Frank Redo M.D.1
1 The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, Department of Surgery 525 East 68th Street, New York 21, New York
Eighteen children with acute pancreatitis, not including those with cystic fibrosis of the pancreas, were encountered at The New York Hospital from 1932 to 1962. Steroid administration, congenital anomalies, mumps, operative trauma, periarteritis nodosa, intestinal obstruction, and malnutrition and infection were thought to be factors in the etiology of acute pancreatitis in these patients. The ages of the children ranged from 1 day to 10 years. Fourteen of the children were male and four female. Fourteen patients died. Significant postmortem findings included kidney and renal lesions in addition to pancreatitis. Survivors were children 5 to 10 years of age whose pancreatitis was attributable to mumps, operative trauma, and annular pancreas. Liver and renal dysfunction in patients with pancreatitis appeared to augur a poor prognosis. All patients thought to have "idiopathic" pancreatitis had a history of poor nutrition and/or infection, which probably are etiologic factors in the development of pancreatitis in these children.
Submitted on November 5, 1962
Accepted on December 19, 1962
