Codeine is a rare precipitant of acute pancreatitis. The hypothesised mechanism is transient codeine-induced sphincter of Oddi spasm. This case report describes an 80-year-old woman with previous cholecystectomy who developed acute pancreatitis within one hour after administration of a low dose (60 mg) codeine phosphate preparation for sialadenitis. The temporal profile, pathophysiology and man...

OBJECTIVE To study clinical perspectives pertaining to chronic sclerosing sialadenitis, which is also known as Kuttner's tumour. DESIGN Retrospective medical chart review. SETTING Regional hospital, Hong Kong. PATIENTS From February 2005 to February 2007, nine cases with Kuttner's tumour were identified from our hospital electronic database. INTERVENTIONS They underwent submandibular si...

It is suspected that the pathogenesis of autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is still unknown, although it has become recognized as a distinct entity worldwide. The characteristic findings in most cases of AIP can be summarized as follows: (i) mild abdominal symptoms, usually without acute attacks of pancreatitis; (ii) occasional existence of obstructive jaundice; (iii) increased levels of serum gamm...

IgG4-related disease is rare, but a frequent differential diagnosis for malignant and for autoimmune diseases. Li and colleagues report the largest cohort of patients with IgG4-related sialadenitis. The observations reveal that the most important diagnostic step is obtaining biopsies. In addition, the IgG4 serum concentration may be a biomarker for the disease progression.

We report the case of a 48-year-old man who had an unusually large submandibular gland sialolith (2.6 cm in greatest dimension), which led to sialadenitis and subsequent abscess formation. We describe the management of this patient and review the literature with emphasis on the various modalities available for diagnostic imaging.