Abstract
Three recent topics in autoimmune pancreatitis were described. First is about the revised clinical diagnostic criteria of autoimmune pancreatitis proposed in 2006. In this new criteria, cases showing localized ductal narrowing over less than one-third the length of the pancreas can be diagnosed, and serological findings showing elevation of the serum IgG4 level is included as one diagnostic factor. Second is about autoimmune pancreatitis with neutrophilic infiltration in the epithelium of the pancreatic duct that was reported by American and Italian pathologists. These patients showed different clinicopathological features from autoimmune pancreatitis defined in Japan as follows: no prediction for elderly males, frequent association with inflammatory bowel disease, and weaker association with other sclerosing diseases. Third is about proposal of a novel clinicopathological entity, an IgG4-related sclerosing disease that is characterized by extensive IgG4-positive plasma cell and T-lymphocyte infiltration of various organs. Autoimmune pancreatitis might be not simply a pancreatitis, but a pancreatic lesion of this systemic disease.
