Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Numazu City Hospital, Shizuoka, Japan.
We present a case of severe acute pancreatitis in a 14-year-old boy that may have been caused by hyperparathyroidism. The clue to finding the parathyroid adenoma was the hypercalcaemia. Although the patient did have acute pancreatitis, no therapy had been effective until the discovery of the parathyroid adenoma. After the excision of the parathyroid adenoma, the function of the pancreas and serum calcium returned to normal. This result suggests a certain cause and effect relationship between hyperparathyroidism and acute pancreatitis.