[Osteomalcaia and chronic pancreatis. 5 cases].

The authors report five cases of an association between osteomalacia and chronic calcifying pancreatitis. The pancreatic involvement, which was pain-free in four patients, resulted in all cases in enzyme insufficiency with steatorrhoea. The deficiency-type osteopathy was highly vitamin sensitive. Aetiological study of these cases of osteomalacia revealed the constant presence of factors aggravating the vitamin deficiency, playing a role by increasing deficient intake or malabsorption, or by increasing Vitamin D requirements. It thus appears that hypovitaminosis D alone, of particular severity, was sufficient to result in the appearance of clinically evident osteomalacia. Such a vitamin deficiency, necessary when the intestinal mucosa is intact, is only rarely encountered, which accounts for the extreme rarity of osteomalacia in association with chronic pancreatic disorders.