Idiopathic fibrosing pancreatitis in a 3-year-old girl: a case report and review of the literature

Idiopathic fibrosing pancreatitis is a rare condition that affects children and adolescents. It can be the cause of recurrent abdominal pain and obstructive jaundice. There are 46 cases reported in the literature, including the first case reported by Comfort et al (Comfort MW, Gambill EE, Baggenstoss AH. Chronic Relapsing Pancreatitis. Gastroenterology 1946;6:239-285) in 1946. We report the case of a 3-year-old girl who presented with abdominal pain and obstructive jaundice. We performed a magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography study as part of the workup of obstructive jaundice. We will review the literature on pediatric idiopathic fibrosing pancreatitis and highlight the use of endoscopic retrograde choledocho-pancreatography and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography in the investigation of this disease.