The pancreas, that great unknown
The pancreas is responsible for secreting digestive enzymes and producing hormones such as insulin. This organ, which weighs about 100 grams, has been largely unknown to medicine until recently, due to its difficult access and because, until the 1990s, there were no adequate means of diagnostic imaging.
In the mid 19th century, it was discovered that the pancreas was not really a single organ, but two in one. On the one hand there is the endocrine pancreas, which endocrinologists deal with, which produces hormones such as insulin or glucagon, and on the other hand there is the exocrine pancreas, which digestologists deal with, which produces digestive enzymes.
Nowadays, very good means are available to study the exocrine pancreas, so that inflammatory changes and the presence of tumors can be evaluated. Tumors are increasingly detected in their early stages, and inflammation previously invisible to the eye can be detected.
Chronic pancreatitis in Spain
The diagnosed cases of chronic pancreatitis are only the tip of the iceberg, as there are many patients who develop pancreatic diseases and are not diagnosed. Many of the patients who suffer from abdominal pain, poor digestion, diarrhea, etc. may have an affected pancreas.
Chronic pancreatitis produces abdominal pain after eating and as the disease progresses, the cells are destroyed and this organ is depleted, which can cause Diabetes Mellitus and maldigestion of food. In Spain, the disease is estimated to affect 50 per 100,000 inhabitants, which means a total of 23,500 people, many of them undiagnosed.
A new risk factor?
Every year, more than 2,000 new cases of chronic pancreatitis are diagnosed in Spain. Although it has always been attributed to excessive alcohol consumption, there is some confirmation that smoking is also an important risk factor.