Development to Chronic Pancreatitis

The long-term prognosis and outcomes of autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) remain unclear. Because patients with AIP respond favorably to prednisolone (PSL) therapy in clinical, serological, imaging, and pathological settings [1–5], the disease was previously believed to be an acute condition that did not progress to an advanced stage of chronic pancreatitis. However, over the last decade, it has been revealed that some patients with AIP could progress to pancreatic stone formation, pancreatic atrophy, and/or irregular dilatation of the main pancreatic duct (MPD), which may raise new questions about whether AIP can progress to confirmed chronic pancreatitis or not.