Acute Pancreatitis is a sudden inflammation of the pancreas. Pancreas is a retroperitoneal organ, which helps in digestion of nutrients and also secretes insulin. The inflammation of the pancreas is a major life threatening problem which can have an impact over multiple organs like the lungs, kidneys.
Acute pancreatitis is most often linked to:
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
Acute pancreatitis signs and symptoms include:
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.
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
Measures to prevent future attacks are aimed at treating the cause of the first attack