Mutations in the pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor (SPINK 1) are present in 20% of subjects with idiopathic, in 5% of those with alcoholic chronic pancreatitis and in 50% of those with tropical pancreatitis; thus this gene is not able to determine chronic pancreatitis by itself, but seems capable of predisposing the disease in the presence of other precipitating factors [32]. This evidence concerns the gene SPINK1 and chronic pancreatitis.