Acute pancreatitis is a rather dangerous and serious disease causing an increase in the pancreas, accompanied by a rapidly spreading inflammatory process, during which the organ tissues are destroyed. The process is often complicated by an infection that occurs both in the pancreas itself and beyond. Patients with such a diagnosis should be delivered as soon as possible to the "Surgery Center" or any other hospital where there is a surgery department.
When an attack of acute pancreatitis occurs edema of tissues, which explains the increase in its size. This mechanism hinders the outflow of pancreatic juice into the duodenum, which entails activation of the enzymes and self-digestion of the pancreas.
The tremendous danger of this condition lies in the fact that in the organ very rapidly there are destructive changes in the cells and tissues of the parenchyma. Therefore, neglect of the disease can provoke not only irreversible processes and complications in the gland itself, but also in organs located nearby: the stomach, kidneys, spleen, as well as the heart and liver.
Changes in the liver in acute pancreatitis
The liver is a significant organ in the full uninterrupted work of the body, producing bile, hormones, enzymes, vitamins and responsible for the detoxification function of the whole organism.
As a result of inflammation and enlargement of the pancreas with a necrotic process, toxic substances are released into the bloodstream that can poison the body. The main protective barrier( 90%) for the neutralization of poisonous substances in the blood is the liver. Therefore, with severe and prolonged inflammation near the underlying pancreas, the liver, performing a compensatory function in neutralizing excess toxic substances, may increase in size.
Enlargement of the liver signals that the organ is exhausted and can no longer fully cope with the task assigned to it. If you do not take additional measures, there may be changes in the hepatic parenchyma and in the circulatory system of the organ. The metabolism will be disturbed, slagging of the body will increase, which will aggravate the patient's difficult condition.
Liver enlargement in diabetes mellitus
Liver enlargement can often be observed due to hepatosis( fatty degeneration of the organ), which was caused by type 2 diabetes, which develops due to chronic pancreatitis with partial loss of the function of internal secretion of the pancreas and destruction of islets - the center of insulin production.
At an early stage of the pathological process, fat drops accumulating in the hepatocytes( cells) are processed by them. But then, not coping with its function, begin to accumulate it. Fat, stretching the shell, destroys the structure of the cell and tears its membrane. The cell is dying. And fat, merging with itself like drops, forms a cyst. According to recent studies in the Center for Liver and Pancreas, hepatosis is the most common cause of organ enlargement, which occurs in many patients with non-insulin-dependent pancreatic diabetes.