Background/aims: The objective of this study was to compare the clinical characteristics of patients with autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) with or without Mikulicz's disease (MD) and with MD alone.
Methods: We investigated the clinical findings in 15 AIP patients with MD (group A+M), 49 AIP only patients (group A), and 14 MD only patients (group M).
Results: The male-female ratio was significantly higher in group A+M (73%, p<0.05) and group A (78%, p<0.01) than group M (21%). Serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels were significantly higher in group A+M than in group A (p<0.01) and group M (p<0.05). Serum IgG4 levels were significantly higher in group A+M than in group A (p<0.01). Other organ involvement was observed in 73% (11/15) of patients in group A+M. The number of patients with diabetes mellitus was significantly higher in group A+M (66%, p<0.01) and group A (51%, p<0.05) than in group M (7%). All of the patients responded well to steroid therapy, but the relapse rate in group A+M (33%) was significantly higher than that in group A (3%, p<0.01). Salivary gland function was impaired in all groups compared with the control group, but the degree of dysfunction was less in group A compared with group A+M and group M.
Conclusions: The relapse rate of AIP in MD patients was significantly higher than that of AIP in patients without MD.
Keywords: Autoimmune pancreatitis; IgG4-related disease; Immunoglobulin G; Mikulicz' disease; Steroid therapy.