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Thanks, very nice post.
I agree, nice post. I especially like the reference to "elegant surgery" and surgery that is not. As you point out, the pancreas is elegant as long as it remains happy in it's abdominal recess.
I can't wait to see the movie and the sequel, Dr.Phibes Rises Again !
My father survived gallstones "exploding" his pancreas, but it was not without 4 months in the hospital, much time sedated and on a ventilator and a 50 pound weight loss. He was on IV nutrition the whole time.
The repair failed 6 months post-release and he was in for 2 months again.
After that, his recovery was pretty straight forward. Didn't even get diabetes until 12 years later.
tangentially related. Check out Weird Al Yankovic's song Pancreas. It' not about trauma or necrotizing pancreatitis but amusing nonetheless
We kept a sterilized large soup-ladle in the OR for scooping out the lesser-sac rot. Many trips; colonic/gastric necrosis; splenic artery hemorrhage; brittle diabetes; sepsis of the most refractory sort; seen it, done it. I could handle it once in a while. If such cases were representative of what the practice is really like, I think we'd all bail.
I wonder if that new robot surgery technology is more effective with pancreatic cases?
(Not that your hand isn't steady as a rock, doc! BTW, that brings up the question: how do you feel about robotic surgery? Good in some ways, bad in others?)
I'm afraid that this type of procedure is one that is a bit less than the precise, delicate ones the robot excels at. It is somewhat akin to scooping out handfuls of Mississippi river mud.
As far as the robot is concerned, although it's quite cool, I don't have really any call to use it. It is very nice for certain cardiac and urologic procedures, but has not been shown to help general surgeons do anything other than slow down the OR.
WELL, THIS IS GREAT NEWS.HUSBAND AGE 49,STAGE 3 PANCREATIC CANCER.SHOULD HE JUST PACK IT IN.SOUNDS LIKE LITTLE HOPE FOR HIM.
i salute all surgeons, and after reading this, especially those who have taken care of patients who have had necrotizing pancreatitis. having just learnt the anatomy of it, it is not even funny when we try to recall the number of structures at the transpyloric plane at L1, hence the appreciation of the delicacy of the surgeon's work in "debridement of necrotic tissue".
http://scienceblogs.com/
insolenc...surgery_any.php
Hi, what do you think is going on if there is no pain involved and there is severe pancreatic atrophy? that is my situation and I feel like my doctors are missing something. Am I just lucky?
Hello All,
My beloved husband passed away Dec 1st of this year due to acute necrotizing pancreatitis, sepsis, and multi-organ failure. We won't know the real cause until we get the autopsy results, and even then we might not know. My husband did not drink so it was not due to alcohol abuse. He also did not have stones. He did have a high triglyceride count. I cannot express the pain we are in. There are no words for it. My husband went into the hospital and was soon comatose. He only responded once. After that, he did not physcially respond. I cannot begin to describe the pain I was in while being with him while he was still in the hospital. It was all so sudden for all of us, and we are still in shock!!! We ask you for your blessings and prayers for him and for us. Thank you very much.
Love And Blessed Be,
Theresa
Thank you, Aggravated DocSurg. I am a nurse and have found over the past several weeks that it IS much easier being the nurse than being the family member. My father just today was diagnosed with necrotizing pancreatitis and we are facing surgery on Thursday. He has already been in the hospital for an extended period of time, his ERCP was done on Jan 17th. Admitted later that day with acute ERCP induced pancreatitis and within 36 hours went into multi-system failure. He has since been on many pressors, ventilator support, antibiotics and antifungals...the list could go on forever. I wanted to let you know how appreciative I am of this website. I can send it to relatives who may not understand a lot of medical terms but will certainly "get it" after reading this. Thank you again and keep up your good work!!
My cousin suffered from Abscess Necrotizing Pancreatitis for 6 months where the debridement surgery made for him and thereafter he was developed two fistulas where one surgery made and he had 2 cardiac arrests and multi organs failures ended with his demise, I think the Science still helpless in front of such disease, I found it worst than cancer.
Thank you for that post. I had Necrotizing Pancreatitus back in 2004. I was in the hospital for 3 1/2 months. They removed part of my Pancreas(Tail Part). They also had to take out my Spleen, Gallbladder, and Appendix. I still suffer from Cronic Pancreatitis and I am now a Diabetic. This was not due to alcohol, it was from High Triglycerides and I was only 31 at the time. I liked the way you wrote the blog because it was easy to understand. Thank You Frank Spaziano
Hi, my name is Frank Spaziano and I would like to thank everyone for reading my last post. If anyone would like to talk more about Pancreatitus or just need someone to talk to who understands what you are going through. If we get enough people then maybe we can start a little support group.I am going to leave my email address for anyone who needs it.
I am still having problems with my Pancreas and I have had alot pain this past week. I am going to have a colonoscopy and a Endoscopy next week to see if I have a Hiatal Hernia, but knowing me, I probably do. I am having the procedure on the same day. I am now taking Paxil because I sarted to get a little depressed because of all of my health and it is a full time job just to keep track all of my appointments and all of my meds. We have to hang in there and sometimes it gets a little overwhelming for us, but I think if we get a little support from one another. I am going to close for now and I hope to hear back from someone. Take care Thanks Frank
XFSPAZX@AOL.COM
I survived this horrible condition back in 1993. I was misdiagnosed for at least a year before my final trip to the ER where I was finally given an ultrasound of my gallbladder, exposing a GB full of stones with three blocking my common duct. By that time, however, I was in multi-organ failure and my husband, sons, and rest of my family were prepared that I was probably not going to live through the night. Thanks to a grumpy surgeon with the bedside manner of a lump of coal, I lived. I was in the hospital for 2 months and after about 4 weeks of getting stabilized, ended up having all but about 10% of my pancreas removed. I am now diabetic and have a hard time digesting food, but I am alive. Thank you to all of the surgeon's who take the time to "spoon out" all the gunk to help those of us near death to have another chance at life. (If only it were that simple - 
I have been "living" with chronic pancreatitis since 1993. It began when I underwent emergency gallbladder surgery during which a large stone was found to be blocking the common bile duct.
Instead of getting better after the procedure my health deteriorated leading to multiple hospitalizations,
tests and endoscopic procedures.
For over three years I went undiagnosed and none of the specialists believed me when I said that I suspected that it was pancreatitis.
Well, it was eventually proven that I had more stones, both in the common bile and pancreatic ducts.
Too many medical professionals accused me of being an alcoholic.
I did not drink at all.
Too many medical professionals said that I was too fat to be that sick.
Morons! There are loads of fat pancreatitis patients.
Well, all those years of pancreatitis have finally done in my kidneys. They're about to fail and I will soon begin dialysis.
Thank you for listing gallstones as a cause of pancreatitis. It was not
considered by too many physicians for too long.
I too suffered from this horrible, life changing affliction in 2003. I spent over 5 months in the hospital. I am now a diabetic. It took a year to show up. I am fortunate to be here and I am thankful for the great doc and most of all my family. Life is back to normal minus a lot of vices. Every day is better than yesterday.
My brother-in-law has necrotizing pancreatitis and as noted above it is so hard to be patient and we had also thought the doctors were missing something or not telling us all. However after much research and reading I(being an RN) have learned that the doctors are doing what is right (I hope). Dan has had a splenic artery hemorrhage(with coils placed and this scares me) He has had pleural effusion with infection, more infection in pancreas, jejunostomy tube, j-p drains for necrotic tissue drain, liver drains, now a chest tube drain, blood transfusions, loss of weight (near 50 pounds)and we are so scared he may not make it still, and I now know there may be more procedures and CT Scans Your prayers are coveted here also. Dan is a great guy. Viet Nam vet and has been through much. Thanks for a space to just share. If anyone has any good new info please respond. Thanks again. DT
Hello:
My husband (age 5
has suffered from chronic pancreatitis for 3 years. Had 40% of his pancreas removed along with his spleen and gull bladder. He had psudocysts that grew outside his pancreas and they removed most but he still has some. He has been diabetic since Jan 09 and takes Insulin up to 4 times a day. He went through TPM IV feeding for 12 months in 06-07 and today they put a J-tube into his intestines for feeding. This is hospital visit number 17 in the 3 years. He has severe dehydration issues. They want to put a stint in the opening of his pancreas but say it is too swollen and irritated. Can anyone advise what stage this may be and if there is any hope for a recovery that he may be able to do something other than lay around and watch TV?
Thanks for any 'hope' you can give.
L M Reynolds - Pennsylvania
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