Abstract
Pancreatic calcification in childhood is relatively uncommon. Reeves and Moran (1948) recorded the occurrence of pancreatic calcification in a four-year-old female child who presented with recurrent bronchitis and foul-smelling, greasy stools. Caffey (1961) reported the presence of calcification of the pancreas associated with an abnormal carbohydrate metabolism in a 12-year-old dwarf. This author stated also that pancreatic calcification may occur in cystic fibrosis of the pancreas and may be demonstrated radiologically; he illustrated the presence of multiple calciferous foci in the pancreas of a nine-year-old girl with this disease. While microscopic concretions of calcium may be found in cystic fibrosis of the pancreas, the radiological demonstration of pancreatic calcification in this condition would appear, from a study of the literature, to be very rare, di Sant' Agnese and Lepore (1961) have, however, reported two such cases; both were young girls in whom radiological evidence of pancreatic calcification was noted at the ages of six and a half and nine years respectively. Both children subsequently developed diabetes mellitus. McGeorge, Widmann, Ostrum and Miller (1957) reported 18 cases of diffuse pancreatic calcification in adults, the youngest of whom was 32 years of age, and reviewed 77 cases previously reported in the literature. These authors held the view, with which most authorities today would probably agree, that the majority of cases of pancreatic calcification result from one or more previous attacks of pancreatitis; the association of pancreatic calculi with chronic alcoholism and biliary tract disease is also well recognised.