PANCREATITIS
Pancreatitis is the
inflammation of pancreatic acini. It is a rare but dangerous disease.
Pancreatitis is of two types:
1. Acute pancreatitis
2. Chronic pancreatitis.
1. Acute Pancreatitis
Acute pancreatitis is more severe and
it occurs because of heavy alcohol intake or gallstones.
Features of acute
pancreatitis:
i. Severe upper abdominal pain
ii. Nausea and vomiting
iii. Loss of appetite and weight
iv. Fever
v. Shock.
2. Chronic Pancreatitis
Chronic pancreatitis develops due to
repeated acute inflammation or chronic damage to pancreas.
Causes of chronic
pancreatitis
i. Longtime consumption of alcohol
ii. Chronic obstruction of ampulla of
Vater by gallstone
iii. Hereditary cause (passed on
genetically from one generation to another)
iv. Congenital abnormalities of
pancreatic duct
v. Cystic
fibrosis, a
generalized disorder affecting the functions of many organs such as lungs
(due to excessive mucus), exocrine glands
like pancreas, biliary system and immune system
vi. Malnutrition (poor nutrition; mal
= bad)
vii. Idiopathic pancreatitis (due to
unknown cause).
Features of chronic
pancreatitis
i. Complete destruction of
pancreas: During the obstruction of biliary ducts, more amount of
trypsinogen and other enzymes are
accumulated. In spite of the presence of trypsin inhibitor in
acini, some trypsinogen is activated.
Trypsin in turn activates other proteolytic enzymes. All
these enzymes destroy the pancreatic
tissues completely
ii. Absence of pancreatic enzymes: Pancreatitis
is more dangerous because the destruction of
acinar cells in pancreas
leads to deficiency or total
absence of pancreatic enzymes. So the
digestive processes are affected;
worst affected is fat digestion that results in steatorrhea
iii. Severe pain in upper abdominal
region, which radiates to the back
iv. Fever, nausea and vomiting
v. Tender and swollen abdomen
vi. Weight loss.
STEATORRHEA
Steatorrhea is the formation of bulky,
foulsmelling, frothy and claycolored
stools with large quantity of undigested
fat because of impaired digestion and
absorption of fat.
Causes of Steatorrhea
Any condition that causes indigestion
or malabsorption of fat leads to steatorrhea. Various causes of steatorrhea are:
1. Lack of pancreatic
lipase: Since
most of the fat is digested only by pancreatic lipase, its
deficiency
leads to steatorrhea
2. Liver disease affecting
secretion of bile: Bile salts are essential for the digestion of fat by
lipase and
absorption of fat from intestine.
Absence of bile salts results in excretion of fatty stool
3. Celiac disease: Atrophy of
intestinal villi leads to malabsorption, resulting in steatorrhea
4. Cystic fibrosis
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