Pancreas Problems: 5 Main Conditions, Symptoms, & Signs
Common pancreas problems include acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, cancer, and others.
Common pancreas problems include acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, cancer, and others.
Lipase levels normally range from 13 to 78 U/L (units per liter). Elevated lipase levels of more than three times the upper limit of normal are suggestive of acute pancreatitis.
Pancreatitis is not a contagious disease. Although it is inflammation, more than 99% of its causes are unrelated to infection.
Patients with severe and complicated pancreatitis commonly complain of left shoulder pain.
Common stool changes with pancreatitis include diarrhea, constipation, yellow stool, clay stools, and blackish stools.
Common causes of slightly elevated lipase include alcoholic pancreatitis, acute on chronic pancreatitis, gastrointestinal diseases, medications, tumors, and others.
The normal lipase level ranges from 14-78 in adults older than 18 years. The article contains the normal lipase charts for different ages and gender
Possible causes of constipation with pancreatitis include opioid analgesics, paralytic ileus, bowel obstruction, dehydration, hypercalcemia, and cystic fibrosis. Occasional constipation can also occur with chronic pancreatitis.
If pancreatitis is left untreated, the risk of complications such as sepsis, bleeding, and organ failure will be higher. Consequently, the risk of death will be higher without treatment.
The pain is often severe and persistent for several days with acute pancreatitis. It rarely comes and goes. With chronic pancreatitis, The pain may come for several months or years.
Gas and bloating are more common with chronic pancreatitis due to malabsorption. The gas and bloating may be present with acute pancreatitis but often masked by the severe pain with the acute type.
The pancreas doesn’t produce bile. Instead, bile is formed inside the liver, stored in the gallbladder, and excreted to the duodenum through the bile duct.