Some migratory aspects of inflammatory collections of pancreatic origin.

In recent years roentgenologists have become increasingly aware of the continuing, chronic, relapsing, and progressive nature of pancreatitis, as well as its varied manifestations. Its presence may be difficult to detect, or even suspect, since the clinical picture and history may vary from patient to patient and even in the same patient at different times. Accordingly, possibly because of some enzymatic activity of the inflammatory collection, more likely because of the favorable action of various anti-inflammatory agents attenuating the disease, and also because of better methods of roentgen diagnosis, we have in the past ten years observed more than 30 patients in whom inflammatory collections of pancreatic origin migrated to various regions in the abdomen or thorax. In many instances, these inflammatory collections presented at a distance as the initial phase of the disease, masquerading as a local abscess, a perinephritic abscess, a subphrenic abscess, a fistula, a pleurisy, an empyema, a mediastinal...