The pancreas and liver are the two largest glands, united by common ducts and located next to the abdominal cavity of a person. Their functions: digestive and endocrine - are interrelated.
When digesting food, these two organs produce and supply the duodenum to biological active substances - pancreatic juice and bile, without which a complete digestion process is impossible. Fats and fat-soluble vitamins( A, C, D) are even partially unable to digest by the body without the presence of bile in the intestine, which can lead to severe human diseases and even to his death.
The endocrine function of the pancreas is manifested in the production of the insulin hormone, which, as a glucose conductor to cells and insulin-dependent tissues, controls glucose levels in the bloodstream.
The liver also takes not the last place in the body to keep the blood sugar level in norm. Glucose from the gastrointestinal tract is only partially consumed by cells and tissues, the remainder accumulates in the liver in the form of glycogen and is supplied to the bloodstream when the permissible glucose level is lowered.
These organs interact so closely with each other, both in location and function, that their diseases often occur together, being concomitant to each other. Perhaps this was the reason that in some people in the minds there was a merger of these two organs and their diseases into a single whole. In the network you can often find the question asked by the gastroenterologist at a remote reception: "What is liver pancreatitis: its symptoms, treatment, prevention?"
It is important to understand that the liver and pancreatitis are two absolutely incompatible concepts. Pancreatitis is an inflammatory process that occurs in the pancreas, caused by a different etiology, with its characteristic clinical picture, characteristic of this type of disease. The liver, or rather the stones in the bile ducts become the most common cause after alcohol abuse, causing pancreatitis, but not the liver, but the pancreas.
The liver and without pancreatitis has its frequent ailments: hepatitis - inflammation of the liver or cirrhosis - a severe disease, accompanied by an irreversible process of replacing the parenchyma of the organ on the stroma or fibrous tissue. But this is a completely different "medical history".
Liver and chronic pancreatitis - symptoms and treatment
In chronic pancreatitis, the following pathological processes in the liver can occur:
- squeezing the common excretory duct with altered pancreatic tissues, leading to stagnant bile;
- reactive changes in liver tissue as a reflection of intoxication in inflammation of the pancreas;
- progressive function disorders and structural changes in the liver in diabetes mellitus.
An increase in the size of the head of the pancreas leads to deformation of the common duct and a narrowing of its lumen. The outflow of bile is broken, it starts to stagnate, absorption of bile acids and protein bilirubin occurs. With a significant increase in the level of bilirubin in the blood, jaundice develops. It is called mechanical( or obturation) and passes after the restoration of natural bile drainage. Such a situation occurs:
- with pronounced inflammatory edema of the pancreas head;
- in case of pseudotumorous chronic pancreatitis, which proceeds with proliferation of tissues of the affected organ;
- for tumors and cysts of the pancreas.
If in chronic pancreatitis the tissue of the gland is destroyed, then this is accompanied by general intoxication and reactive changes in other organs. This leads to liver dystrophy with foci of decay in it.
Diabetes mellitus can be a consequence of pancreatitis. This occurs in the case of death of cells that perform endocrine function. The insulin produced in the pancreas not only affects the level of sugar, but also regulates fat metabolism. With a low level of insulin, steatosis occurs - uncontrolled decomposition of fats in the liver with the accumulation of free fatty acids. The outcome of this process can be cirrhosis of the liver.
Symptoms of liver damage in pancreatitis can be:
- jaundice with staining of skin and urine and discoloration of feces;
- heaviness in the left side, a feeling of bitterness in the mouth, an increase and soreness of the liver upon palpation;
- impaired digestion of fats and absorption of certain vitamins;
- changes in biochemical blood analysis;
- in the case of cirrhosis of the liver - swelling, accumulation of fluid in the body cavity, widening of the veins on the stomach, changes in the blood coagulation system.
Treatment of liver and pancreatitis necessarily starts with dieting. Practically at the same time, medication is prescribed, the amount of which depends on the clinical picture. In some conditions( mechanical jaundice, pancreatic necrosis), surgical treatment may also be required.