Hereditary pancreatitis with lithiasis in a 7-year-old boy.

A seven year male child, a product of non-consanguinous marriage was brought with recurrent attacks of abdominal pain, diarrhea, failure to thrive for the last three years and progressive night blindness for the last 6 months. He had episodes of abdominal pain, each lasting for two to three days, the frequency decreasing from once a week initially to once a month later. Pain was moderate to severe, generalized without any radiation or vomiting, with no relation to meals, defecation or posture. The child used to pass 3-4 bulky, greasy and semiformed stools each day. There was no history of cough, dyspnea, exanthematous fever, recurrent jaundice, helminthiasis, abdominal trauma, bleeding from any site, joint pains and urinary trouble. Maternal grandfather used to have frequent attacks of severe abdominal pain (each attack lasting for 2-5 days), requiring repeated hospitalizations since a very young age. At least on three occasions he was diagnosed as acute pancreatitis with significant rise in enzyme levels. The pedigree is depicted in Fig. 1.