Unit 2 Assignment, Yvonne McAlpin For this week’s assignment covering disease research, I chose pancreatitis. I chose this because my friend was just recently diagnosed with this. She is a very healthy person, in fact healthier than I and a little younger. I thought it would be a perfect research topic. Pancreatitis means inflammation of the pancreas that can appear in two very different ways. Acute pancreatitis is sudden while chronic pancreatitis is recurring or persistent. Some cases of pancreatitis may be mild and go away on their own and do not require treatment. However, severe cases can lead to potentially fatal complications. Although pancreatitis is mainly caused by gallstones, the rise in alcohol misuse in several countries has led to an increase in incidence. Alcohol now accounts for over one third of all acute pancreatitis cases in the USA. The patient will experience a sudden onset of pain in the center of the upper abdomen, below the breastbone. The pain is first felt in the lower abdomen. It will then gradually become more intense until it is a constant ache. The ache may intensify further and become severe, and also spread into the back in 50% of cases. Eating may exacerbate the pain. If it is caused by gallstones everything will happen and develop very fast. When it is caused by alcohol, symptoms will typically develop more slowly, over a number of days. These symptoms may also be present; vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite, coughing, tenderness then the abdomen is touched, fever, and jaundice. Alcohol misuse, gallstones, bacterial infections, lupus, and injury to the pancreas can be causes of pancreatitis. The doctor will ask the patient about their symptoms and examine the abdomen. If areas of the abdomen are sensitive when touched, this may be an indication of pancreatitis. The patient will have a rigid abdominal wall muscle and when listening to the abdomen with a stethoscope, there may be very few or no intestinal sounds. This is also an indication of pancreatitis. Blood levels of amylase and lipase are higher than normal. These levels can return to normal within 3 days. To find how inflamed the pancreas is, an ultrasound scan, or CT scan may be performed. Treatment includes tests to make sure the body is working properly and to ease symptoms while the pancreas is repairing itself, including a prescription for painkillers and medication for vomiting. The patient should drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration. http://pathology.jhu.edu/pc/BasicCauses.php http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pancreatitis/DS00371/DSECTION=causes