Abstract
Currently in Japan, the diagnosis of autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is based on the"Clinical diagnostic criteria 2006 of AIP"proposed by the Japan Pancreas Society (JPS) and the Research Committee of Intractable Diseases of the Pancreas (RCIDP) supported by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, which is a revised version of"the diagnostic criteria 2002 of AIP, proposed by JPS in 2002". Since 2002, the accumulation of many AIP cases has shown a slight change in the concept of AIP, including extra-pancreatic lesions and associated disorders, which suggests that the current diagnostic criteria are becoming inadequate.
In 2003, the RCIDP began to review the current diagnostic criteria based on recently-acquired information and knowledge. The team organized a working group, consisting of the team members and researchers specializing in AIP, to develop a proposal for the revision of the current diagnostic criteria. On October 7, 2005 and April 22, 2006, the RCIDP and the JPS jointly held open forums to discuss the proposed amendment.
This report describes the background of the proposed amendment and the finalized proposal of the revised version as the clinical diagnostic criteria of AIP 2006.
