Pancreas is an important organ in the human body responsible for digestive process and production of insulin that maintains normal glucose levels in our body. Diseases in the pancreas therefore lead to indigestion and diabetes.

Since the pancreas has a good nerve supply, its disease presents with pain in upper abdomen and the back. Pancreatic diseases can also present with jaundice when they compress the bile duct.

The following diseases can affect the Pancreas:

1. Pancreatitis- this disease can happen suddenly or stay in some patients for life. The latter is usually seen in patients consuming alcohol but it may happen without any known cause. When they happen suddenly (sometimes due to gallstone disease or  alcohol ), it may be either a mild disease  recovering in a week or it may have a severe course (where the pancreas undergoes self destruction) needing treatment (drugs and surgery) for weeks and months. In many cases, the patient may not even survive.
2. Cysts- usually seen in the younger population, a timely  detection  and surgical intervention can completely eradicate the disease.
3. Tumors/ Cancers- they have  a good outcome only if detected early.
4. Stones are not uncommon in the pancreas. Many patients can be treated on medical therapy, some require endoscopy and few need surgery.

Although some of the diseases need only monitoring, some require medical, endoscopic or surgical treatment.

Surgery of the Pancreas is not easy. It requires skill, expertise and more importantly, sound judgement. It is important for a                                                                                       common  man to know the following points regarding surgery of the various conditions in the pancreas:

1. Pancreatic surgery has been made more comfortable by use of laparoscopy in many situations. A Pancreatic pseudocyst and pancreatic stones, for example are good cases for laparoscopic treatment whereby a patient can have minimal pain, no wound complications and can go home within a couple of days.
2. Whipples procedure- done for tumors/ cysts of pancreatic head- used to be a formidable procedure in the past with significant complication rates. Recently the operation has been made quite safe with improvement in technique and technology.
3. Sometimes in acute pancreatitis, much of the organ can undergo auto-destruction and get infected. This is life threatening and may need removal (Necrosectomy) from the body for the survival of the patient.  Recently these surgeries can be increasingly performed by endoscopy or laparoscopy in select circumstances. Only experts should perform this surgery under laid down principles for reasonable outcome.

While patients and their relatives get increasingly concerned hearing and reading about pancreatic surgery, the good news is that it is becoming increasingly safer and more comfortable to perform these operations. This is due to technology such as laparoscopy and endoscopy, availability of improved IV nutrition and some antibiotics. Surgical expertise has also increased that has brought down the complication rate drastically.To see the surgical video, how we do it visit my you tube page…….

The only thing the patient needs to do is to recognize his disease early and get treated by the right doctor.