Acute pancreatitis in childhood

The pancreas is a very valuable organ, and it is lodged in the upper abdomen, very close to the place where we have the stomach, the duodenum and the bile duct. It has, essentially, two functions: on the one hand, it participates in the regulation of blood glucose figures. And, on the other, synthes

What is pancreatitis and how does it affect children

Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas. It is not something that only happens in adulthood. Children can also suffer from pancreatitis.

Although there may be pancreatitis of various types (acute, subacute, chronic) and may be secondary to multiple causes, the most frequent is that infant pancreatitis is acute and 'idiopathic'. This means that it usually lasts a short time and that no cause can be identified.

Symptoms and diagnosis of pancreatitis in children

The most frequent symptom of childhood pancreatitis is pain. This is intense, and is located in the upper abdomen. Many children report that they are radiating to the back. In addition, there may be vomiting, malaise and fever.

Is there any complementary test that can be used to diagnose it? In the blood test we can check an elevation of two enzymes: amylase and lipase. Inflammation of the pancreas can also be documented through an ultrasound. In complicated cases, the image test of choice is CT.

For treatment, the fundamental pillar is pain management, sometimes reaching the hospitalization of the child. Sometimes you have to leave the patient on an absolute diet, and order intravenous fluids or parenteral nutrition.

Forecast of childhood pancreatitis

Infant pancreatitis is much better than in adults. Only a small number of children will have episodes of recurrent pancreatitis. This fact is usually conditioned by the presence of family history (there is a genetic component in them).