Acute Pancreatitis

What causes acute pancreatitis?

The two main causes of acute pancreatitis are alcohol and stones in the gallbladder. Alcohol is toxic to the pancreatic tissue. Any amount of alcohol ingestion can result in pancreatitis. Meaning there is no safe limit of consumption. There are instances where people have suffered pancreatitis after ingesting the first glass of alcohol in their lives.

Gallstones are small calcium and cholesterol made substances forms in the gallbladder. When these stones slip out of the gallbladder into the bile duct(tube) they can travel down it and block the pancreas. This causes an attack of pancreatitis.

Apart from these two, there are various other factors which can cause acute pancreatitis, like

Certain medications like steroids
High triglyceride level in blood
High calcium levels in blood (due to some underlying problem of the parathyroid gland)
Autoimmune disorders

Symptoms of Acute Pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis is a very painful condition. It typically starts as a sudden catastrophic pain in the upper abdomen. The pain travels to the back and shoulders. The patient has vomiting,fever and distension of the abdomen with gas. Severe attacks can be fatal within a few hours too. It can be mistaken for a heart attack many times.

What are the Complications of Acute Pancreatitis?

Luckily most of the attacks of pancreatitis are mild. Meaning the attack passes off without any major damage to other organs. But around 15-20%of patients end up in acute severe pancreatitis. This is a rapidly progressing condition which quickly affects the kidneys, lungs and intestines. The patient may experience a fall in blood pressure and may need treatment in and ICU setting. The effect of a single attack can progress over days and can last for weeks. In severe attacks, he risk of death is very high.

Treatment for Acute Pancreatitis

The main treatment of acute pancreatitis is supportive. Meaning there is no medicine which can reverse the attack that has happened. The aim behind treating such patients is to support the organs which have suffered damage due to the pancreatitis and to take measures to prevent further attacks in future.

During the treatment,

The patient is kept fasting initially to give rest to the intestines
Antibiotics are given to prevent secondary infections
Good oxygen supply is provided to the patient
In cases where the pancreatitis causes rotting of the intestinal fat and parts of the pancreas itself the patient might need an operation to remove these infected material

Measures to prevent future attacks are aimed at treating the cause of the first attack.

If gallstones are found to be the cause of pancreatitis a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal) needs to be done as early as possible after the patient recovers
Alcohol should be banned for life
If the cause is found to be high calcium or triglycerides then specific treatment for those are needed