Pancreas

Question

Hello!

My daughter, 5 years old, CF, has lately had stomach aches quite frequently, increasingly after eating. The stool is not oily in my opinion. Until now, only the lungs were affected. Could it be that now the pancreas is getting involved too!?

We were admitted to the hospital in June, did a sweat test (not conclusive), blood tests, ultrasound, but all of that was targeted more at the lungs.

Many, many thanks.

Answer

Hello,

basically, your question can be answered with "yes." More than 90% of CF patients have so-called exocrine pancreatic insufficiency or get it in the course of their lives, which means that above all the fat digestion does not work properly anymore. When this develops fully, oily stool is indeed one of the results. Depending on the severity of the disease, this exocrine pancreatic insufficiency might not show initially. While it develops and the pancreas still works to some extent, the symptoms can involve only stomach ache.

I cannot take it from your question that there has already been a clear diagnosis, however. "Inconclusive sweat tests" require further clarification and extensive diagnostics, because they alone do not allow a CF diagnosis. Before speaking of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, however, at least the pancreatic elastase in the stool should have been measured. Only after that can one assess the pancreatic function.

Kind regards
Olaf Sommerburg

29.12.2009