Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas, which occurs in both adults and children. Chronic pancreatitis in children is formed due to eating disorders, various abdominal injuries or abnormalities of the organs in the peritoneum. As a rule, this disease does not manifest itself in any way. However, from time to time there are painful sensations, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Pediatric pancreatitis is diagnosed by ultrasound and based on a biochemical blood test. Treatment of this disease consists in arresting pain, strict adherence to dietary nutrition, ensuring complete tranquility of the pancreas, protecting it from inflammation.
The young organism is very sensitive to any external manifestations and responds fairly quickly to them. Therefore, any allergic reaction or food poisoning has an effect on the pancreas. If this happens very often, there is a risk of developing a chronic type of this ailment.
You can list only the primary factors that can cause pancreatitis:
- Incorrect nutrition. What can be called wrong nutrition? This - a variety of carbonated sweet drinks, canned food, chips, fast food, fast food, smoked products and much more. Consequently, the pancreas too actively produces a large amount of juice to digest food, thereby contributing to the development of the disease.
- Infringements in a mode of a food of children. It can be fasting, malnutrition or too long intervals between meals.
- Drug administration;
- Food poisoning;
- Congenital pathologies of the digestive system;
- Diseases of the duodenum, as well as the bile excretory system;
- Askaridosis( when the gland duct is clogged by ascarid parasites, creating obstacles to the outflow of pancreatic juice);
- Various kinds of a trauma of a stomach or belly, a back;
- Heredity or great physical activity.
Chronic pancreatitis in children is very difficult to diagnose, because at this age this disease practically flows without any signs. The main methods of diagnosis - a biochemical blood test, ultrasound of the abdominal cavity, analysis of feces. If the research data are not sufficient for the purpose of treatment, the doctor may prescribe other diagnostic methods.
As well as chronic pancreatitis in adults requires timely treatment, so in children requires an immediate appeal to specialists to start timely treatment. Due to proper treatment, there are chances to avoid complications and death.
Symptoms of chronic pancreatitis in children
They appear only with prolonged observation. Quite often a small patient is concerned with pain, which can be fits or protracted. These sensations are caused by stretching the walls and swelling of the pancreas. Among the characteristic symptoms there is also:
- nausea;
- vomiting;
- bitterness or dry mouth;
- multiple attempts to vomit.
The most frequent place of occurrence of a painful syndrome is the navel area, namely the upper abdomen. The pain progressively increases and is especially enhanced after eating due to irritation of the pancreas. Causes of manifestation of characteristic manifestations of the disease can also be physical stress and the state of emotional stress. Symptoms of chronic pancreatitis in children usually weaken in a sitting position or when the torso is tilted forward. In many school-age patients, there may be an irradiation of pain in the lower back, the zone of the lower back. Not often there is a girdling pain.
The pain may be disturbing for 1-2 hours, but in some cases it can be prolonged for a day. In chronic pancreatitis, children do not have an increased appetite. They are troubled by heartburn, from time to time there are constipation, which can dramatically change diarrhea. Periodically, there is nausea and vomiting. Often, the patients lose weight, and they also have asthenovegetative syndrome.
It should be noted that the symptoms of the disease in children are quite diverse, but largely depend on:
- period of the disease;
- severity of the process;
- degree of hyperfermentemia;
- the presence of complications and concomitant diseases.
Treatment of chronic pancreatitis in children
Treatment of chronic pancreatitis in children usually consists in minimizing the causes that are the factors that activate the disease:
- reduction of pain;
- correction of pancreatic secretions;
- reduction of the negative impact of the digestive tract.
Children who have chronic pancreatitis are diagnosed with acute care at the acute stage. The doctor performs daily monitoring of hemodynamic parameters, analyzes the water balance, acid-base state, hemoglobin, leukocytes, etc.
One of the factors contributing to the treatment of chronic pancreatitis is dietary nutrition. It ensures the calmness of the pancreas, improves the absorption of useful nutritional components.