Pathogenesis and treatment of inflammatory lesions of the papilla of Vater.

Benign papillary disease is an uncommon entity. For the small percentage of the population afflicted, however, it is a very real, incapacitating disease. In an attempt to alleviate the distressing pain associated with papillary disease, we performed a transampullary septectomy on 105 patients, between the years of 1972 to 1985. There were no operative deaths, and only five serious complications. The findings at exploration were almost equally distributed between stenosing papillitis (53), and septitis (45). The papilla was normal in 7. Histologic findings of inflammation were more common in the former, while fibrosis was seen more frequently with the latter. Long term follow-up (1 to 13 years) in 94 patients revealed complete pain relief in 50 per cent and improvement in 75 per cent Gallstones, pancreatitis, and peptic ulcer appeared to play a role in the pathogenesis of this obscure, rare, and disabling disease.