Reactive changes in the pancreas

The pancreas consisting of the head, body and tail, without borders passing into each other, is one of the mostLarge glands of the digestive system, which is inferior in size to only the liver. This important body produces enzymes involved in the digestion of food, and secretes the hormone insulin, responsible for the sugar content in the blood. Iron

partially closing positioned in front of her stomach, directly connected with the liver and the biliary routes, and therefore pathological processes taking place therein are often a reaction to the display of various chronic diseases of the abdominal cavity.

Similar reactive changes in the pancreas can lead to serious physiological disorders and the development of many diseases.

relationship of the digestive system

The pancreas has two main functions, thus:

• exocrine function is the production of pancreatic juice, involved in digestion;
• is intrasecretory - in the production of insula islets of Langerhans, which promotes the absorption of sugar by tissues.

digestive juice produced by the parenchyma, is collected in the duct, which is connected to the common bile duct, the exhaust from the gall bladder is opened in the area of ​​the duodenum. As a result of such close connection, all diseases of the liver and organs of the bile excretory system necessarily cause a reaction and changes in the functioning of the gland itself and vice versa. What is fraught with reactive changes?

The term "reactive changes" in the pancreas, which so scares many patients, actually means that it reacts to the pathology of another nearby organ.

This reactive state can lead to the development of pain syndrome, disruption of the normal functioning of the digestive system or changes in the sugar content in the blood. This is due to the fact that in the reactive pancreas, its parenchyma produces hormones responsible for lipid-carbohydrate metabolism, and pancreatic juice containing enzymes necessary for digestion is inadequate.

gland inflammation that develops under the influence of aggressive it biliary tract organs( GVP) and the liver is a reactive pancreatitis attack with his characteristic:

• increase in organ size, its induced edema;
• reactive changes in the parenchyma.

Development reactive pancreatitis and adult and a child may be weakened by reacting pancreatic gastrointestinal disease such as:

• chronic and acute hepatitis;
• chronic cholecystitis;
• duodenal ulcer;
• ulcerative colitis;
• diseases of the esophagus and others.

Diseases of the liver and ZHVP

With bile congestion, both in the gall bladder and in the bile ducts, in the parenchyma of the pancreas reactive changes often occur, which almost always have a diffuse character, although most often they are detected with ultrasound only on oneFrom its sites. The same is observed with liver diseases, when there is a violation of its function to produce bile.



With such reactive changes,

• pains may be present that are localized in the upper abdomen;
• liquid stool;
• nausea.

However, considering that the appearance of the same symptoms is characteristic of diseases of the liver and ZHVP, it is not possible to distinguish them from similar signs of reactive changes in the pancreas.

Diseases of the digestive tract

Reactive pancreatitis can also develop with gastrointestinal ailments. Among the latter, the most common disease is duodenal ulcer.

Reactive changes in the gland can lead to:

• liquid stool;
• bloating;
• spread of abdominal pains up and their intensification;
• nausea.

More rarely, reactive pancreatitis occurs in diseases of the esophagus and large intestine. In particular, this condition can provoke reflux gastritis, which is an inflammation of the esophagus, which occurs when the contents of the stomach flow into this organ. The constant irritation of the esophagus acidic environment leads to its inflammation and later to the appearance of ulcers on the walls - a severe illness, which has a negative impact on the status of all organs of the digestive system and pancreas as well.

Pathological reactive changes in the gland, developing on the background of gastrointestinal diseases can occur in both adults and a child with minimal clinical symptoms or no symptoms at all.



Diagnostics

Reactive changes of the pancreas diagnosed by ultrasound, in which a specialist examines not only the body, but all the others, that could cause an attack.

In the ultrasound study, the parenchyma of a healthy organ will be uniform, with no apparent reduction or increase in size, without diffuse changes or any foci.

The term "diffuse changes" is not a diagnosis, but a condition of the gland in which changes are spread throughout the entire tissue evenly. If the changes are focal, this may indicate that the patient has stones in the pancreas or even a tumor.

When performing ultrasound, a different pattern of diffuse changes in an organ that is damaged can be detected, which helps to establish an appropriate diagnosis.

So:

• diffuse reduction in the density of parenchymal echogenicity and increase the size of the prostate show an attack of acute pancreatitis;
• diffuse decrease in echogenicity and density of the parenchyma without increasing the size of the organ most often occurs with chronic reactive changes;
• diffuse increase in echogenicity at normal sizes of the gland indicates a possible presence of lipomatosis, which is expressed in partial replacement of parenchoma with fat;
• diffuse changes with increasing density and echogenicity with normal or reduced organ size are characteristic of pancreatic fibrosis.

Due to the fact that on the basis of ultrasound accurate diagnosis of the disease to put difficult enough, spend the whole range of additional diagnostic tests:

• biochemical and clinical blood tests to detect violations of the entity's functions, as well as allowing to detect or excludeinflammatory process;
• urine analysis for the maintenance of digestive enzymes in it;
• endoscopy of the duodenum to study the condition of the mucosa at the site of the flow.

obtained data are analyzed practitioner or gastroenterologist, then put the final diagnosis and treatment is assigned a corresponding disease. The reactive changes in the pancreas themselves do not require special treatment, and after getting rid of the underlying liver disease or organs of the GVP pass independently.

Useful video about the pancreas