The utility of endoscopic ultrasound for diagnosing chronic pancreatitis and the importance of early diagnosis

Today endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is the most sensitive test for early diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis. Early diagnosis of this disease is of fundamental importance for timely intervention to limit the inflammatory responses to possible etiological factors and to slow or prevent progression to advanced and debilitating chronic pancreatitis. The diagnostic accuracy of EUS for chronic pancreatitis (CP) has been enhanced with the use of strict criteria and the creation of scoring systems which have evolved into the Rosemont classification. This is the most restrictive classification system of all: it aims at standardizing criteria and assigning values to endoscopic ultrasound findings of chronic pancreatitis found in early or late phases. Since this disease is difficult to diagnose using conventional methods, especially in its early stages, EUS has emerged as an excellent diagnostic and therapeutic alternative for the study of this group of patients.