Understanding Necrotizing pancreatitis: Causes, Symptoms, and Management

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Necrotizing pancreatitis

by Alike Medical Team ∙ Updated on June 13, 2023

Additional names

This group contains additional names: - NP

General

Necrotizing pancreatitis (NP) is a health problem in which part of your pancreas dies. This is because of inflammation or injury. If the dead tissue gets infected, it can cause serious issues.

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Signs & symptoms

Symptoms of NP may include: * Gradual or sudden stomach pain that sometimes goes around to your back and is often severe and lasts for days * Fever * Swollen belly * Nausea and vomiting NP may also cause dehydration and low blood pressure. Complications from NP may cause other symptoms.

Diagnosis

Your doctor will ask about your health history, symptoms, and other health conditions. They will also give you an exam, focusing on your abdomen. To diagnose pancreatitis, your doctor may do tests. These may include: * Tests that look for high levels of pancreatic enzymes in your blood * Tests for other substances, including sodium, potassium, and glucose * Tests to find the cause of the pancreatitis, including tests for blood fats * Imaging tests, which may include an abdominal ultrasound or CT scan Your doctor will rule out other causes of your symptoms. They will check you for an ulcer, inflammation of your gallbladder, or pancreatic cancer. Your healthcare provider can often diagnose NP with another imaging test, such as MRI. Your doctor may also take a sample from the part of your pancreas that has died. Using imaging tests, a healthcare provider uses a fine needle to take a small sample. This sample then goes to a lab. Technicians can tell if the dead tissue shows signs of infection

Treatment

Treatment often happens in two parts. You will have treatment for pancreatitis and treatment for the part of the pancreas that has died. To treat the pancreatitis, you may need: * Rest * IV (intravenous) fluids * Pain medicines * Medicines to prevent vomiting You may also need nasogastric feedings. In nasogastric feeding, you get nutrition in liquid form. You will get it through a long, thin tube. This tubeis put through your nose and into your stomach. You may also not be able to eat or drink anything for a while so that your pancreas can rest. Sometimes the feeding tube is put through your nose into the small intestine. This is called nasojejunal feeding. If the sample of your pancreas doesn’t show signs of infection, you may not need further treatment. In this case, your healthcare team will monitor your condition. You may need to have another small sample taken from your pancreas. Your healthcare provider may want to recheck you for signs of infection. If you have signs of infection or lab tests that show infection, you will need antibiotics. You will also likely need to have the dead, infected pancreatic tissue removed. Your doctor may put a thin tube (catheter) through your abdomen to remove the dead tissue. This is done with the help of medical imaging. Or the area may be taken out endoscopically. This means it will be removed by going into the abnormal tissue of the pancreas through the stomach. Or your provider may reach the tissue through the small intestine or the ducts of the pancreas through the small intestine. In other cases, you may need surgery to remove the area. This is often done after other techniques have not worked. If your health is stable, your healthcare provider may delay these treatments for a few weeks. That’s because the risk for complications decreases when it’s done later. But if you are very sick, you may need emergency treatment to remove the dead, infected part of your pancreas

Note

☝ We provide information on prescription and over-the-counter medicines, diagnosis, procedures and lab tests. This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

National Institutes of Health ∙ World Health Organization ∙ MedlinePluse ∙ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

☝ All information has been reviewed by certified physicians from Alike

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