Enzymes of the pancreas are substances that are protein compounds produced by it in the form of juices. Their main purpose in the body is to ensure the normal splitting of food products entering the stomach.
With enzymatic deficiency of substances produced by the pancreas, the process of digestion becomes difficult and incomplete, which leads to metabolic disorders and the development of various pathological conditions.
Enzyme deficiency is called enzymopathy and can be explained by both hereditary predisposition and various pancreatic diseases.
In the case when it comes to hereditary predisposition, insufficiency manifests itself from the first days of life of a newborn child and is expressed in various digestive disorders, rumbling in the abdomen, general anxiety of the baby and its retardation in growth. However, it can only be partial. For example, children may experience disaccharidase insufficiency, the cause of which is a change in the composition of the juices produced by the pancreas and the lack of some enzymes in them.
For treatment, you just need to adjust the food, excluding their products, the digestion of which depends on the missing enzyme. If the disease is genetic and diagnosed in the first year of life, then with the right diet with a time comes a complete recovery.
Of course, the lack of substances produced by the pancreas can be detected only on the basis of a complete examination of the patient, without which it makes no sense to talk about treatment, its direction and intensity.
The disease can be suspected for such symptoms as rumbling in the abdomen, heaviness, swelling, too frequent defecation and a state of discomfort. All these symptoms, especially when it comes to children, are the basis for a comprehensive medical examination.
Particular attention should be paid to the health of children whose blood relatives have patients with pancreatic enzyme deficiency. If you do not timely detect this ailment, the child can seriously lag behind in development from peers and get serious problems with the pancreas.
Symptoms of pancreatic enzyme deficiency
Pancreatic dysfunction is usually manifested by characteristic features, in children and adults, in many ways similar. About the lack of pancreatic enzymes in early childhood signal the following symptoms:
- frequent, diluted stool( up to 6 times) greenish with whitish flakes;
- bloated abdomen;
- regurgitation;
- sleep disturbance;
- the child is capricious and languidly eats;
- weight is below normal.
If a patient is suspected to have a pancreatic insufficiency, the child will need clinical follow-up and complete a full range of studies to determine the degree of its damage.
The lack of digestive enzymes in the older population can manifest as dyspeptic disorders with the following clinical symptoms:
- the character of the stool changes( lipase insufficiency): it becomes frequent, abundant, grayish in color, oily, poorly flushed;There is a fetid putrid odor in the feces of undigested remnants of food;
- exhausts a strong flatulence with a transfusion in the abdomen and an "explosive" escape of gases;
- nausea, decreased appetite;
- unpleasant taste in mouth;
- weight loss and general malaise( no feeling of vivacity, fatigue, weakness, insomnia, headaches).
Functional indigestion of the digestive system, the cause of which is related to the lack of pancreatic enzymes, requires treatment.
Treatment of pancreatic insufficiency of the pancreas
In the presence of such indications as diarrhea, steatorrhea( fatty stool), progressive weight loss on the background of other signs of dyspepsia, enzyme replacement therapy corrects pancreatic insufficiency. Duration of intake and dose of drugs are selected taking into account age, body weight, form of pathology of digestion and absorption.
Pharmacology has in the arsenal of several groups of enzyme preparations that differ in their components. Each has its own strict indications for use, the violation of which will not lead to recovery and can cause undesirable side reactions. Here are some examples:
- I group - active substance pepsin( Abomin, Pepsidil, etc.).It is prescribed to restore the activity of the gastric mucosa, for example, with hypoacid gastritis.
- II group - pancreatic enzymes lipase, amylase, trypsin( Pancreatin, Mezim forte, Creon, Pangrol, Pancitrat, etc.).These light enzyme preparations are often prescribed and preventive. They mix well with the food clot and are physiologic. Large indivisible pills of Pancreatin are practically unsuitable for babies. In children's practice, highly active Creon is used successfully in small capsules, which, if necessary, can be opened and dosed out the contents.
- III group - complex preparations containing pancreatin, hemicellulose, bile components( Digestal, Festal, Kotazim forte, Enzistal, etc.).An additional intake of these enzymes is justified in order to compensate for violations of the cavity digestion. Caution is required for liver diseases and ulcerative colitis.
- IV group - combined agents( Kombitsin, Pansinorm forte, Pankreoflat).
- V group is the active substance of lactose( Lactraza, Tilaktaza).Used for better assimilation of dairy products.
The selection of therapeutic forms for enzymatic insufficiency of the pancreas is strictly individual, the medicines are not interchangeable. Make a competent appointment and determine the correct method of admission can only a doctor of appropriate qualifications.