Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis is inflammation in your pancreas. Inflammation causes swelling and pain. If you have pancreatitis, it might feel like stomach pain that spreads to your back.

Your pancreas is an organ in your abdomen. It sits between your stomach and your spine. If you lay your right hand across your stomach, that’s roughly the size and shape of your pancreas behind it.

Your pancreas is involved in digestion and regulating your blood sugar. It makes digestive enzymes (like amylase) and hormones (like insulin). It delivers digestive enzymes to your small intestine through the pancreatic duct.

Inflammation is your immune system’s response to injury. It’s supposed to help heal injured tissues. When your pancreas is injured, it’s most often from gallstones blocking the pancreatic duct, or from alcohol.

What are the different types of pancreatitis?

There are two types of pancreatitis: acute and chronic.

Acute pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis is a temporary condition. It happens when your pancreas is attempting to recover from a minor, short-term injury. Most people with acute pancreatitis will recover completely in a few days with supportive care: rest, hydration and pain relief. However, a very severe case of acute pancreatitis can cause serious health complications, some of them life-threatening.

Chronic pancreatitis

Chronic pancreatitis is a long-term, progressive condition. It doesn’t go away and gets worse over time. It happens when the injury or damage to your pancreas never stops. Chronic pancreatitis will eventually do lasting damage to your pancreas, although it may take many years. Constant inflammation causes scarring of your pancreas tissues (fibrosis), which stops them from making enzymes and hormones.

How common is pancreatitis?

In the U.S., acute pancreatitis leads to 275,000 hospital stays per year. About 20% of these cases are considered severe. Chronic pancreatitis is less common and leads to 86,000 hospital stays per year.