Pancreatic carcinoma?

We report the case of a 71 years old man suspected to suffer from pancreatic carcinoma because of a large mass in the pancreatic head. Intraoperatively, this suspicion could not be confirmed. An unspecific pancreatitis was found. Despite gastrojejunostomy and cholecystectomy with biliodigestive anastomosis and Y-Roux abdominal pain and a massive lost of weight persisted. In the course, the diagnosis of an autoimmune pancreatitis was maid and symptoms quickly improved after the introduction of corticosteroids. In the commentary of this paper the issue of autoimmune pancreatitis will be discussed.