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

Abstract

Statistical studies were carried out on the difference in clinical pictures of chronic pancreatitis between the Japanese and Western peoples. It was found that chronic pancreatitis of the Japanese was less severe in symptoms and the incidence of pancreatic calculi was rarer than in Western peoples and that the cases associated with Asearic lumbricoides was decreasing in frequency in the Japanese. Of 50 cases of upper abdominal operations experienced in the authors' Department, none developed postoperative pancreatitis. These marked differences in clinical manifestations of chronic pancreatitis between the Japanese and Western peoples might be attributed to the difference of dietary habit.