Pancreatitis

Introduction: Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis: Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas is a large gland behind the stomach and close to the duodenum. The duodenum is the upper part of ... more about Pancreatitis.

Pancreatitis: Inflammation of the pancreas causing digestive complaints. More detailed information about the symptoms, causes, and treatments of Pancreatitis is available below.

Symptoms of Pancreatitis

• Symptoms of acute pancreatitis:
  • Severe abdominal pain
  • Upper abdominal pain
  • Central abdominal pain
  • Abdominal swelling

See full list of 23 symptoms of Pancreatitis

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Pancreatitis:

• High Cholesterol: Home Testing:
  • Home Cholesterol Tests
  • Home Triglycerides Tests
  • Home Blood Pressure Tests
• High Blood Pressure: Home Testing
  • Home Blood Pressure Monitors
  • Home Heart Tests
• Heart Health: Home Testing:
  • Heart Rate Monitors
  • Irregular Heartbeat Detection
  • Heart Electrocardiogram (ECG)
• Thyroid: Home Testing:
  • Home Thyroid Function Tests
  • Home TSH Tests
  • Home Adrenal Function Tests
• Diet & Weight Loss: Home Testing:
  • Home Weight Testing
  • Home Body Fat Testing (BMI)
  • Home Body Fat Monitoring
  • Home Fitness Testing
• Diabetes: Related Home Testing:
  • Home Diabetes Tests
  • Home Blood Glucose Tests
  • Home Urine Glucose Tests
  • Home Urine Ketone Tests
  • Home Diabetes HbA1c Tests
  • Home Microalbumin Tests (Kidney)
  • Home Urine Protein Tests (Kidney)
  • Home Kidney Tests
  • Home Eye Tests

Medical Textbooks Online about Pancreatitis

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic Tests for Pancreatitis

• Pancreas function blood tests
• X-rays
• Ultrasounds
• CAT scans
• See also tests for acute pancreatitis

See full list of 7 diagnostic tests for Pancreatitis

Wrongly Diagnosed with Pancreatitis?

• Misdiagnosis of Pancreatitis
• Underlying causes of Pancreatitis (possibly wrongly diagnosed)

In-Depth Reports: Diagnosis and Misdiagnosis

Diabetes diagnosis and misdiagnosis (In-Depth Report): Although diabetes diagnosis is well-known to physicians, and a diabetes diagnosis is unlikely to be wholly incorrect, there are still some rare subtypes and less common diagnostic issues to consider. See also misdiagnosis of diabetes and Diabetes Diagnosis Report....read full report »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Pancreatitis

Misdiagnosis and Pancreatitis

Metabolic syndrome often undiagnosed: Metabolic syndrome, also known as Syndrome X, is an often overlooked medical condition that causes a cluster of chronic symptoms....read more »

Heart attacks can be undiagnosed: Although the most severe symptoms of heart attack are hard to miss, there are varying degrees of severity. It is altogether too common for people to die from undiagnosed heart attack...read more »

Heart attacks can be overdiagnosed: Although many people die from heart attacks, there are also many cases where people fear that they have a...read more »

Rare undiagnosed iron disorder causes various severe conditions: The rare "iron overload" disorder, hemochromatosis, can cause a variety of...read more »

Cluster of diseases with difficult diagnosis issues: There is a well-known list of medical conditions that are all somewhat difficult to diagnose, and all can present in a variety of different severities. Diseases in this group include ...read more »

Chronic digestive conditions often misdiagnosed: When diagnosing chronic symptoms of the digestive tract, there are a variety of conditions that may be misdiagnosed. The best known, irritable bowel syndrome, is over-diagnosed, whereas...read more »

Intestinal bacteria disorder may be hidden cause: One of the lesser known causes of diarrhea is an imbalance of bacterial in the gut, sometimes called intestinal imbalance. The digestive...read more »

Antibiotics often causes diarrhea: The use of antibiotics are very likely to cause some level of diarrhea in patients. The reason is that antibiotics kill off not only "bad" bacteria, but can also kill the "good"...read more »

Food poisoning may actually be an infectious disease: Many people who come down with "stomach symptoms" like diarrhea assume that it's "something I ate" (i.e. food poisoning). In fact, it's...read more »

Mesenteric adenitis misdiagnosed as appendicitis in children: Because appendicitis is one of the more feared conditions for a child with abdominal pain, it can be over-diagnosed (it can, of course, also fail to be diagnosed with fatal effect)....read more »

Poorly healing leg rashes a classic sign of chronic disease: Recurring leg rashes, or poorly healing leg rashes, are a classic sign of undiagnosed diabetes, particularly of Type 2 diabetes, but...read more »

Leg cramps at night a classic sign: The symptom of having leg muscle cramps, particularly at night, is a classic sign of undiagnosed diabetes. However, there are also various other causes. See ...read more »

Celiac disease often fails to be diagnosed cause of chronic digestive symptoms: One of the most common chronic digestive conditions is celiac disease, a malabsorption disorder with a variety of symptoms (see symptoms of celiac...read more »

Obesity-related conditions undiagnosed in children: A variety of conditions are associated with obesity (see obesity), but these tend to be undiagnosed more often in child patients than in adults. Some of the overlooked conditions may...read more »

Chronic digestive diseases hard to diagnose: There is an inherent difficulty in diagnosing the various types of chronic digestive diseases. Some of the better known possibilities are peptic ulcer, colon cancer...read more »

Choledochal cyst not to be overlooked: Choledochal cysts are congenital cystic dilatations of the hepatobiliary tree and usually presents before 16 years of age. Symptoms may be that of cholangitis, jaundice, pancreatitis and stone...read more »

Common case of dyspepsia: Dyspepsia is a difficult and vague symptom evaluate and requires careful questioning. The discomfort may sometimes amount to pain and some of the conditions to be kept in mind in order to diagnose...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Pancreatitis

Causes of Pancreatitis

• Underlying causes of acute pancreatitis:
  • Gallstones - blocks the bile duct causing acute pancreatitis
  • Pancreas trauma (type of Pancreas conditions)
  • Pancreas injury
  • Pancreas duct obstruction

See full list of 20 causes of Pancreatitis

More information about causes of Pancreatitis:

• Medications, drugs, or substances causing Pancreatitis (40 listings)
• Drug interactions causing Pancreatitis (19 listings)
• Underlying causes of Pancreatitis
• Pancreatitis as a complication caused by other conditions
• Pancreatitis as a symptom
• Medical news summaries relating to Causes of Pancreatitis

Videos for Pancreatitis

Patient Surveys for Pancreatitis

• Patient Profile Survey
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• Survey about the symptoms of your Pancreatitis
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Prognosis for Pancreatitis

More about prognosis of Pancreatitis

Reseach about Pancreatitis

Visit our research pages for current research about Pancreatitis treatments.

Clinical Trials for Pancreatitis

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Pancreatitis include:

• A Study to Determine If Antibiotics Prevent Infection in the Pancreas of Patients Where Part of the Pancreas Has Died - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - meropenem
• EUROPAC-2 - Pain Treatment of Hereditary and Idiopathic Pancreatitis - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Magnesium (15 mmol/d) and ANTOX vers. 1.2 (300 µg organic selenium, 54000 IU beta carotene, 750 mg vitamin C, 540 IU vitamin E, 2700 mg methionine)
• Does Glyceryl Nitrate Prevent Post-Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreaticography (ERCP) Pancreatitis? - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - glyceryl nitrate
• A Pilot Study of Use of Calcium Channel Blocker to Decrease Inflammation and Pain in Hereditary Pancreatitis - This study is no longer recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - amlodipine (drug)
• Can Aprotinin Reduce Pancreatitis After Scoliosis Surgery - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Aprotinin

See full list of 23 Clinical Trials for Pancreatitis

Statistics for Pancreatitis

• Medical statistics for Pancreatitis
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Pancreatitis
• Death and Mortality statistics for Pancreatitis
• Society statistics for Pancreatitis

Types of Pancreatitis

• Acute Pancreatitis
• Chronic Pancreatitis
• Hereditary pancreatitis

Read more about Types of Pancreatitis

Medical Guidebooks and Ebooks for Pancreatitis

• Icon Health Sourcebook for Pancreatitis

See all guides and ebooks for Pancreatitis

Stories from Users Related to Pancreatitis

Related forums and stories:

• Digestive Conditions (99)
  • Help I cant eat!! Im scared..
  • Bloating/Distention/Intenstinal Gas
  • Upper left abdominal pain after eating
  • Pain below ribs (centre and right), upper and lower back
  • Gnawing Hunger Pangs!
  • More user stories

User Interactive Forums

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• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
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Article Excerpts about Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas is a large gland behind the stomach and close to the duodenum. The duodenum is the upper part of the small intestine. The pancreas secretes digestive enzymes into the small intestine through a tube called the pancreatic duct. These enzymes help digest fats, proteins, and carbohydrates in food. The pancreas also releases the hormones insulin and glucagon into the bloodstream. These hormones help the body use the glucose it derives from food for energy.

Normally, digestive enzymes do not become active until they reach the small intestine, where they begin digesting food. But if these enzymes become active inside the pancreas, they start "digesting" it. (Source: excerpt from Pancreatitis: NIDDK)

Definitions of Pancreatitis:

INFLAMMATION of the PANCREAS. Pancreatitis is classified as acute unless there are computed tomographic or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatographic findings of chronic pancreatitis (International Symposium on Acute Pancreatitis, Atlanta, 1992). The two most common forms of acute pancreatitis are ALCOHOLIC PANCREATITIS and gallstone pancreatitis. - (Source - Diseases Database)

Inflammation of the pancreas; usually marked by abdominal pain - (Source - WordNet 2.1)