Relapsing acute pancreatitis due to ampullary adenoma in a patient with familial adenomatous polyposis.

A patient with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) presented with a relapsing attack of acute pancreatitis. Evaluation using computed tomography, ultrasonography, and duodenoscopy revealed an ampullary adenoma, which was classified as Spigelman's stage III according to Spigelman's criteria. The patient underwent a pylorus-resected pancreatoduodenectomy, and has had no abdominal pain suggesting acute pancreatitis for 1 year after surgery. Only a few reports of acute pancreatitis due to ampullary neoplasms in patients with FAP are available. Relapsing acute pancreatitis is another surgical indication for premalignant periampullary neoplasms in FAP.