PANCREAS NEWS When Pathology Marries Clinics: the Honolulu Consensus Document and the Guidelines of the International Association of Pancreatology

Autoimmune pancreatitis has been extensively described in reports from the Far East, Europe and the USA. The diagnosis was based on the presence of four main criteria related to histological findings, radiological features, other organ involvement, and clinical and instrumental response to steroid therapy [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. As defined in these terms, the diagnostic approach and general management of autoimmune pancreatitis seems to be quite “linear ” but the subject presents a lot a controversial aspects, namely, concerning histopathology (microscopic and macro-scopic) as well as clinical findings. Large series of patients observed in Japan have been identified as affected by autoimmune pancreatitis based on distinct clinical features, without the need fo