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Abstract : |
The term chronic pancreatitis refers to the irreversible morphological and functional damage of this organ. Etiology of chronic pancreatitis differs all over the world with alcohol being the most common causative factor in Europe (including Poland) and the USA. Alcohol is responsible for chronic pancreatitis in 70-80% of cases. Frequency of chronic pancreatitis among alcoholics range to 45%. However, only 10-15% of these patients develop symptoms. Chronic pancretitis is associated with progressing function lesion of pancreas manifested by: diabetes, steatorrhea, malabsorption and malnutrition. Other aspect of chronic pancreatitis is chronic, visceral pain, very often requiring not only pharmacological but also endoscopic or surgical treatment. Moreover, the big clinical challenge is to differentiate chronic pancreatitis from malignancy. There are no effective laboratory tests to detect early cancer stage. Many imaging tools are involved in differential diagnosis: ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance. On the other hand, chronic pancreatitis is often associated with poor socioeconomic situation of patients, which also influences the management of the disease., |
