Der Internist
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In the European Union a disease is classified as rare if it affects no more than 5 out of 10,000 people. Currently, there are more than 6000 rare diseases, consisting of a large and heterogeneous number of different diseases that are complex in their symptomatology, multidimensional and therefore difficult to classify in everyday medical practice. ⋯ It also provides an overview of all German centers for rare diseases, which are a contact point for patients with an unclear diagnosis. The se-atlas serves as a compass through the heterogeneous amount of information on care facilities for rare diseases and provides low-threshold information for a broad user group, from affected persons to members of the medical care team.
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Chronic pancreatitis is characterized by recurrent inflammatory episodes. The diagnosis is based on the detection of pathognomonic morphological alterations by ultrasound-based methods as well as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, imaging techniques play an important role for the differential diagnostics of potential complications in patients with chronic pancreatitis and for regular monitoring of patients with increased cancer risk. This article summarizes the current guideline recommendations for medical imaging procedures in chronic pancreatitis.