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A simple endoscopic pancreatic function test with synthetic porcine secretin appears to distinguish patients with known chronic pancreatitis from those with chronic abdominal pain without chronic pancreatitis. This simple, practical endoscopic test can be performed during upper endoscopy and may decrease the need for invasive procedures in patients with abdominal pain and normal radiographic imaging studies.

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Endosonography (EUS) has emerged as a major diagnostic tool in pancreatic imaging. Direct tests of pancreatic function are considered the most sensitive and accurate method to establish a diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis (CP), particularly when imaging studies are inconclusive. The aim of this study was to compare current EUS CP criteria with our newly described, purely endoscopic, secretin-stimulated pancreatic function test (ePFT). Fifty-six patients (25 male, mean age = 44 years) who were referred for evaluation/treatment of chronic abdominal pain with or without CP underwent both EUS and ePFT. The EUS protocol included the following: (1) EUS images were obtained in a standardized fashion from both gastric and duodenal stations, and (2) EUS images were scored independently by one of three therapeutic endoscopists for 0--9 parenchymal/ductal criteria as follows: 0-3 = normal, 4-5 = equivocal, >/=6 = definite CP. Endoscopic pancreatic function test (ePFT) protocol included the following: (1) upper endoscopy, (2) intravenous synthetic porcine secretin (0.2 mcg/kg, ChiRhoClin, Inc.) after test dose, (3) duodenal fluid aspirated every 15 min for 1 h, and (4) autoanalyzed for [HCO3] cutpoint of 80 mEq/L. According to EUS, 33 were normal, 13 equivocal, and 10 definite for CP. The mean peak [HCO3 -] range (in mEq/L) for each group was normal CP (83.7, range = 58-118), equivocal CP (68, range = 30-88), and definite CP (56, range=19-84). Using a peak [HCO3 -] of