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Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffPancreatitis can cause serious complications, including:
- Breathing problems. Acute pancreatitis can cause chemical changes in your body that affect your lung function, causing the level of oxygen in your blood to fall to dangerously low levels.
- Diabetes. Damage to insulin-producing cells in your pancreas from chronic pancreatitis can lead to diabetes, a disease that affects the way your body uses blood sugar.
- Infection. Acute pancreatitis can make your pancreas vulnerable to bacteria and infection. Pancreatic infections are serious and require intensive treatment, such as surgery to remove the infected tissue.
- Kidney failure. Acute pancreatitis may cause kidney failure, which can be treated with dialysis if the kidney failure is severe and persistent.
- Malnutrition. Both acute and chronic pancreatitis can cause your pancreas to produce fewer of the enzymes that are needed to break down and process nutrients from the food you eat. This can lead to malnutrition and weight loss, even though you may be eating the same foods or the same amount of food.
- Pancreatic cancer. Long-standing inflammation in your pancreas caused by chronic pancreatitis is a risk factor for developing pancreatic cancer.
- Pseudocyst. Acute pancreatitis can cause fluid and debris to collect in cyst-like pockets in your pancreas. A large pseudocyst that ruptures can cause complications such as internal bleeding and infection.
References
- Gachago C, et al. Pain management in chronic pancreatitis. World Journal of Gastroenterology. 2008;14:3137.
- Nair RJ, et al. Chronic pancreatitis. American Family Physician. 2007;16:1679.
- Frossard JL, et al. Acute pancreatitis. Lancet. 2008;371:143.
- Treiber M, et al. Genetics of pancreatitis: A guide for clinicians. Current Gastroenterology Reports. 2008;10:122.
- Twedell D. Acute pancreatitis. Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing. 2008;39:341.
- Cappell MS. Acute pancreatitis: Etiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis and therapy. Medical Clinics of North America. 2008;92:889.
- Pancreatitis. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/pancreatitis/. Accessed Dec. 5, 2008.
- Pancreatitis. American Gastroenterological Association. http://www.gastro.org/wmspage.cfm?parm1=855. Accessed Dec. 5, 2008.
- Sareen S, et al. Yoga: A tool for improving the quality of life in chronic pancreatitis. World Journal of Gastroenterology. 2007;13:391.
- Bhardwaj P, et al. A randomized controlled trial of antioxidant supplementation for pain relief in patients with chronic pancreatitis. Gastroenterology. In Press. Accessed Dec. 8, 2008.
