Persistent obstructive jaundice produced by pancreatitis is a well-documented phenomenon (1-10). In patients without demonstrable extrahepatic biliary tract disease, often alcoholics, the jaundice has been shown to be the result of obstruction of the intrapancreatic portion of the common bile duct by the inflammatory lesion, or its sequelae (8-10).
Transient obstructive jaundice produced by pancreatitis, however, has received much less attention than its more persistent form. Rapidly subsiding jaundice in alcoholic patients is frequently attributed to intrahepatic cholestasis secondary to parenchymal hepatic disease (fatty metamorphosis (11, 12), "alcoholic hepatitis" (13, 14), or cirrhosis), despite the frequent association of pancreatitis with