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Digestive System
Pancreatitis Acute and Chronic
20
Jun
Jun
Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas that can occur in two very different forms. Acute pancreatitis is sudden while chronic pancreatitis “is characterized by recurring or persistent abdominal pain with or without steatorrhea or diabetes mellitus.
Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas that can occur in two very different forms. Acute pancreatitis is sudden while chronic pancreatitis “is characterized by recurring or persistent abdominal pain with or without steatorrhea or diabetes mellitus.
Symptoms
• Severe upper abdominal pain, with radiation through to the back, is the hallmark of pancreatitis. Nausea and vomiting (emesis) are prominent symptoms.
Causes
• The most common cause of acute pancreatitis is the presence of gallstones—small, pebble-like substances made of hardened bile—that cause inflammation in the pancreas as they pass through the common bile duct.
• Excessive alcohol use is the most common cause of chronic pancreatitis, and can also be a contributing factor in acute pancreatitis.
• Hypertriglyceridemia (but not hypercholesterolemia) and only when triglyceride values exceed 1500 mg/dl (16 mmol/L),
• Hypercalcemia,
• Viral infection (e.g., mumps),
• Trauma (to the abdomen or elsewhere in the body) including post-ERCP (i.e., Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography),
• Vasculitis (i.e., inflammation of the small blood vessels within the pancreas), and
• Autoimmune pancreatitis.