A practical approach to the diagnosis of autoimmunepancreatitis

Autoimmune pancreatitis is a disease characterized byspecific pathological features, different from those ofother forms of pancreatitis, that responds dramaticallyto steroid therapy. The pancreatic parenchyma maybe diffusely or focally involved with the possibility of alow-density mass being present at imaging, mimickingpancreatic cancer. Clinically, the most relevant problemslie in the diagnosis of autoimmune pancreatitis and indistinguishing autoimmune pancreatitis from pancreaticcancer. Since in the presence of a pancreatic mass theprobability of tumour is much higher than that of pancreatitis,the physician should be aware that in focal autoimmunepancreatitis the first step before using steroids isto exclude pancreatic adenocarcinoma. In this review, webriefly analyse the strategies to be followed for a correctdiagnosis of autoimmune pancreatitis.