Are we missing chronic pancreatitis? And does it matter?

Research suggests many cases of chronic pancreatitis are going undiagnosed and the condition is far more prevalent than previously recognised

The answer to both these questions is yes according to Dr Darren Pavey, gastroenterologist and senior lecturer at the University of NSW.

Speaking at the HealthEd General Practice Education seminar in Sydney recently, Dr Pavey said there was good international research that suggested  many cases of chronic pancreatitis were going undiagnosed and the condition was far more prevalent than previously recognised.

Overseas studies including cohorts of randomly selected adult patients suggest a prevalence of between 6 to 12%, with the condition being more likely among patients with recent onset type 2 diabetes, excess alcohol intake, smokers and those over 40 years of age, he said.

And in response to the question of whether it is important to diagnose this condition, Dr Pavey said chronic pancreatitis not only caused immediate symptoms usually including pain, diarrhoea and weight loss, but commonly had longer-term consequences such as pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (where there is less than 10% pancreatic function) and an increased risk of diabetes, malnutrition and even pancreatic cancer.

Certainly, an incentive to diagnose and treat earlier rather than later.

Part of the challenge in recognising the condition is that the classic triad of symptoms, namely abdominal pain, diarrhoea and weight loss are common to a variety of medical conditions, including IBD and IBS.

What’s more, abdominal pain, which many doctors would have thought had to be present with pancreatitis, does not always occur in chronic pancreatitis, especially when it is idiopathic which is the more common variety of chronic pancreatitis.

In fact, pain is only present in about half the cases of idiopathic chronic pancreatitis. Idiopathic pancreatitis constitutes 55% of all cases, the other 45% being alcohol-related. Abdominal pain tends to be a more consistent feature of alcoholic chronic pancreatitis.

So, if you have a patient in the right age group (about 40 to 60 years), who has chronic diarrhoea, weight loss and maybe abdominal pain, and you suspect they might have chronic pancreatitis, what do you do?

The most common screening test for chronic pancreatitis was now a faecal elastase-1 stool test, requiring a single formed stool sample, Dr Pavey said.

The test has a high specificity and sensitivity (both over 90%) and is readily available to Australian GPs, although it does not attract a Medicare rebate and costs approximately $60.

The test is positive if the concentration of faecal elastase is less than 200mcg/g.

In terms of imaging, CT is usually the option of first choice with signs of calcification and atrophy being pathognomonic of significant chronic pancreatitis.

Aside from the need to stop drinking and smoking, treatment revolves around replacement of the pancreatic enzymes, which is available as a capsule taken orally (Creon). The deficiency of these enzymes is the chief cause of the diarrhoea, malabsorption, and weight loss, so replacing them not only alleviates the symptoms but will also help prevent some of significant sequelae associated with this ongoing condition.

Dr Pavey advises starting patients with known chronic pancreatitis on 25,000 lipase units (Creon) with every meal and 10,000 units with every snack, and recommends patients eat six smaller meals during the day rather than three larger meals. This replacement therapy would then be titrated up.

There is no need to put patients on a reduced fat diet when they are on pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy, however they often have a highly acidic upper gastrointestinal environment and required acid suppression treatment.

In conclusion, Dr Pavey advises: “[Doctors] should be aware of the problem of underdiagnosing this condition and have a low threshold for checking faecal elastase and assessing pancreatic insufficiency.”