Life expectancy with CP - for

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I dont think you are being morbid - just that you are trying to get

the facts as best as they may be.

Off hand, the only studies I have read concerning life expectancy

have to do with alcoholic chronic pancreatitis. In these studies, a

10 to 20 year shortening of life expectancy is cited. I am not sure

if this is influenced by the person stopping his drinking or not.

In another study published in the New England Journal of

Medicine " Medical Progress: Chronic Pancreatitis " 1 Jun 1995

has this to say:

" Chronic pancreatitis is associated with a mortality rate that

approaches 50 percent within 20 to 25 years. Approximately 15

to 20 percent of patients die of complications associated with

attacks of pancreatitis, and most of the remaining deaths are

due to factors such as trauma, malnutrition, infection, or tobacco

abuse which are frequently present among chronic alcoholics. A

recent report indicates that pancreatic cancer develops in

roughly 4percent of patients within 20 years of diagnosis of

chronic pancreatitis. "

However, reading the whole article leads me to believe that the

authors are basing their statistics on alcoholic pancreatitis too,

but maybe not. It is hard to separate out the statistics for this

when they lump CP together, without regard to the cause. And

they are also using a very strict criteria of CP as a diagnosis -

that is, obvious signs of pancreatic pathology as opposed to

those that define CP on symptoms only. - Which may skew the

picture to the more dire outcome that they cite.

This is an interesting question and maybe I can do more

searching for you.

Laurie