Unlocking the Secrets of Pancreatic and Liver Health

Behind the Scenes: How Your Pancreas and Liver Work

The pancreas serves as both an endocrine gland and a digestive organ. It produces the hormones glucagon and insulin and secretes pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes. Your liver has a wide range of functions, including bile production, digestion, and detoxification.

Let’s understand the functions of the liver in digestion and the endocrine and exocrine functions of the pancreas in detail.

Pancreas: The Hidden Player in Digestion and Hormones

Want to know the detailed pancreas anatomy? It is a long, soft organ located in the upper left abdominal region. Simply put, this organ sits below the liver, behind the stomach, and extends from the upper part of the small intestine to the spleen. It has both endocrine and exocrine functions.

The main pancreas function is to produce chemicals to help digest and process the food you consume. It produces enzymes trypsin, chymotrypsin, amylase, and lipase, which help break down food. It also maintains the balance of the blood sugar by creating and releasing important hormones such as insulin and glucagon.

Liver: The Body’s Master Chemist

Now, let us understand liver anatomy. This organ sits in the right hypochondriac and epigastric region (upper right quadrant of the abdomen). Among over 500 vital liver functions, here are the main ones.

• Filtering blood by removing toxins and harmful substances
• Producing bile to help digestion
• Storing vitamins and minerals and releasing them when your body requires them
• Regulating amino acids to helps with protein production
• Regulating glucose levels by storing and releasing it
• Supporting the immune system by destroying pathogens during detoxification

Red Flags You Shouldn’t Ignore

Identifying early warning signs of liver diseases and pancreatic disorders is important. Abdominal pain and swelling, bloating, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, indigestion, and jaundice are the common signs of liver dysfunction. But they may also be early symptoms of pancreatic cancer or severe pancreatic inflammation.

Common warning signs of pancreatic problems;

• Sudden weight loss
• Abdominal pain
• Tender and swollen belly
• Pain in the upper belly that radiates to your chest and back
• Fever
• Lowered blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Diarrhea
• Stomach upset

Patients will likely experience diabetes-like symptoms (frequent urination and excessive thirst) due to the pancreas’s involvement in insulin production. Chronic pancreatic disease symptoms may also include oily, smelly stools and belly pain that worsens after eating.

Common warning signs of liver problems include;

• Jaundice
• Chronic fatigue
• Bloating
• Belly pain and swelling
• Swelling in the legs and ankles
• Dark urine
• Pale stool
• Itchy skin
• Confusion

Most liver disease symptoms do not appear in the early stages. However, once they become noticeable, it often means that your liver is already damaged and scarred, a condition known as cirrhosis. Here, treatment becomes more challenging. This marks the importance of identifying early signs to maintain liver health.

What’s Hurting Your Pancreas and Liver?

You may be already aware that certain lifestyle habits like poor diet and long-term alcohol abuse are leading to liver disease. Other causes of liver diseases include viral infections (hepatitis A, B, and C), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, certain genetic disorders, autoimmune system conditions, cancer and other growths, and some medicines.

Obesity, type 2 diabetes, family history of liver disease, sex without protection, and contact with toxic chemicals and other people’s blood or body fluids are the major risk factors for liver diseases. What causes chronic pancreatitis and other pancreas disorders? Undoubtedly, the main reason is alcohol use. Infections are also common triggers for pancreatic inflammation.

Therefore, the risk factors for pancreatitis include alcohol consumption as well as smoking. Along with these lifestyle habits, blockage in the bile duct caused by gallstones, genetic disorders, certain medicines, trauma or surgery to the pancreas region, and injury to your abdomen can be common causes of pancreatic diseases.

Pancreatic Conditions: Understanding the Challenges

Conditions affecting your pancreas can lead to many health problems. Some common illnesses include pancreatitis (acute or chronic) and pancreatic cancer. Let’s understand more about these conditions.

Acute Pancreatitis: When Your Pancreas Fights Back

Acute pancreatitis is a temporary and sudden pancreatic inflammation. It usually occurs when your pancreas tries to recover from a short-term, minor injury. However, the question remains; is acute pancreatitis life-threatening?

Although an acute condition, it tends to be more severe, and your abdomen may feel tender to touch. But most people will recover completely in a few days with rest, hydration, and pain relief supportive care.

If the condition is severe, it can cause life-threatening health complications for the patient. Acute pancreatitis symptoms to watch for: unbearable abdominal pain, fever, fast heart rate, shallow breathing, and nausea and vomiting.

Chronic Pancreatitis: The Long-Term Struggle

The main reasons for this progressive, long-term condition are gallstones and heavy drinking. It is less common and happens when the injury or damage to your pancreas continues. Chronic pancreatitis causes abdominal pain of varying intensity, and the pain may come and go.

If you are wondering how to manage chronic pancreatitis without surgery, know that some lifestyle adjustments can help you with this. Lifestyle changes for chronic pancreatitis should start with quitting smoking and drinking alcohol. Pain medications can also help you.

Pancreatic Cancer: Early Signs That Could Save Lives

Belly pain that spreads to the back or chest, sudden weight loss, loss of appetite, light-colored stools, dark-colored urine, jaundice, pain and swelling in an arm or leg, and diabetes that’s hard to control are the most common pancreatic cancer signs.

Identifying early symptoms of pancreatic cancer is very hard as the condition typically doesn’t cause symptoms until after it has spread to other organs. But early-stage diagnosis increases the chance of pancreatic cancer treatment options becoming successful.

Liver Conditions: Protecting Your Body’s Powerhouse

What are the concerning liver conditions and their symptoms? Let’s find out.

Liver Abscess: An Overlooked Infection

A puss-filled mass in the liver. It is a rare but life-threatening condition, often caused by bacterial, parasitic, or fungal infections. A blood infection, liver injury, or abdominal conditions such as appendicitis or diverticulitis are the main causes.

Symptoms of liver abscess include pain in the right upper abdomen, pain that increases with walking or deep breathing, fever, chills, night sweats, yellow skin (jaundice), and dark urine. Liver abscess treatment usually consists of draining the abscess and less often, surgery.

Liver Cancer: Silent Yet Deadly

What causes liver cancer? It occurs when something affects the DNA of healthy liver cells, and in the early stages, you might not experience any symptoms. So, unfortunately, you may not be able to recognize early symptoms of liver cancer.

However, a lump below your rib cage or pain near your right shoulder, unexplained weight loss, unusual fatigue, and jaundice, can be liver cancer signs. So, it is better to undergo tests to catch it in its earliest stage. Immunotherapy, hepatic artery infusion pump, and surgery are some of the advanced liver cancer treatment options.

Cirrhosis: Reversing the Damage

Cirrhosis is the severe scarring of the liver, but how does it happen? The scar tissue is formed when the liver tries to repair itself after damage caused by alcohol or an infection.

Cirrhosis causes and symptoms;

Common causes of liver cirrhosis include chronic alcoholism, viral hepatitis, Wilson’s disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and cystic fibrosis. Typically, a combination of lab and imaging tests is used for the diagnosis of cirrhosis. Following a healthy diet, avoiding alcohol, and maintaining a healthy weight are recommended lifestyle changes for cirrhosis.

It often has no symptoms until the damage to your liver is quite severe. Easily bleeding or bruising, fatigue, swelling in the legs, itchy skin, jaundice, spider-like blood vessels on the skin, fluid retention in the abdomen, pale fingernails, confusion, slurred speech, and unexplained nausea are the usually observed liver cirrhosis symptoms in patients.

Getting to the Root of the Problem

To detect liver disease symptoms and pancreas problems, your doctor may suggest advanced imaging, lab tests, and biopsies after completing a physical exam and reviewing your medical history.

Diagnostic tests for liver disease include;

• A few blood tests known as liver function tests
• Viral hepatitis tests
• Alpha-fetoprotein test
• Serum alpha-1 antitrypsin test
• Ultrasound, CT scan, and MRI
• Liver biopsy (checking a tissue sample)

Stool tests and blood tests are often used as diagnostic tests for pancreatic disease. Healthcare professionals also use imaging tests to look at your pancreas, bile ducts, and gallbladder. Pancreatic function test (PFT), ultrasound, MRCP, and endoscopic ultrasound are the usual imaging for pancreatic conditions, especially pancreatitis.

From Treatment to Recovery: Tailored Solutions for Every Need

A gastroenterologist will discuss all available options. Steroids and enzyme medications are common prescriptions for pancreatitis and other pancreas conditions. If treatment with these medications doesn’t work, they may suggest minimally invasive surgery. Advanced pancreatic disease treatments include endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).

Pancreatic surgery options like pancreatectomy are typically used for cancer or, sometimes, severe chronic pancreatitis. Localized liver disease treatment includes heating or freezing cancer cells, alcohol injections into the tumor, and injecting chemotherapy drugs into the liver. Liver surgery options for transplant or removing the tumor are used in advanced cases.

In many cases, changes to your lifestyle might be the first step toward better liver and pancreatic health. Your doctor might advise you to quit smoking and drinking, reduce the amount of fat in your diet, engage in moderate physical exercises, and maintain a healthy weight. These steps are especially beneficial in conditions like fatty liver disease.

Prevention is Key: How to Keep Your Pancreas and Liver Healthy

How to prevent liver and pancreatic diseases? Many liver and pancreatic disorders can be prevented and effectively managed in their early stages with lifestyle and dietary changes. You can also adopt certain home remedies to prevent fatty liver.

Below are a few tips for a healthy liver and pancreas that everyone should follow;

• Limit or completely stop alcohol consumption
• Lose weight if needed, as obesity is a risk factor for liver diseases
• Reduce fatty food intake
• Avoid the regular use of prescription or recreational drugs
• Quit smoking

While these methods may not give overnight results, they can certainly repair the damage to these organs.

Frequently Asked Questions About Pancreatic and Liver Health

1. How can I tell if I have pancreatitis?

Ans. Visit your doctor if you experience characteristic symptoms of pancreatitis, especially persistent belly pain. The patient should be given immediate medical care if the pain is severe enough that they are not even able to sit still. Blood tests, stool tests, and imaging tests are used to confirm the condition.

2. What are the first signs of liver cancer?

Ans. People with liver failure are more prone to liver cancer. At early stages, liver cancer tends to be silent. The first signs of the condition include jaundice, loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue, indigestion, pain around the lower right rib, and upper abdominal pain and swelling.

3. Can chronic pancreatitis be reversed?

Ans. No, chronic pancreatitis is a long-term, progressive condition and thus irreversible. It does not just go away but also gets worse over time. This happens when the injury or damage to the pancreas never stops. Although it takes many years, this chronic condition surely does lasting damage to your pancreatitis once it develops.

Trusted Care, Tailored for You

Dr. Patta’s Gastro Centre is recognized as one of Chennai’s best gastroenterology centers. The clinic hosts a multidisciplinary team of specialists in surgery, radiology, and intensive pancreatic and liver care. Our experts ensure high-quality treatment right from the start.

Our specialists’ collaborative approach has resulted in many success stories. We deliver advanced and effective liver care for patients who approach us. We offer a wide range of liver treatments, starting with the evaluation of abnormal liver tests to ensure early diagnosis.

Our commitment to advancements in gastroenterology has made us the top choice in Chennai, with people describing our approach as personalized, compassionate, and providing quality patient care. Contact us and book an appointment today for expert liver care.