What to Know About Pancreatic Disorders and IBD

Although inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) starts in the gut, it doesn’t always stay there. According to a 2015 study in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Disease, up to 47% of people with IBD will develop what are called “extraintestinal manifestations,” or EIMs. That means the disease ranges outside of the gut and causes problems in other tissues or organs. Not only are EIMs common, but many people experience more than one of them. That same 2015 study found that up to a quarter of IBD patients who develop an EIM will have more than one. The skin, joints, and eyes are among the most common sites of these beyond-the-bowel disease manifestations. But the pancreas is another organ that, over time, can be caught up in IBD’s sprawling web of harm. Some researchers have estimated that up to 18% of people with IBD may have some sort of pancreatic involvement at some point, although that does not always lead to symptoms or medical problems. (For example, there’s evidence that many people with IBD produce too much of certain pancreatic enzymes, which may or may not cause any health issues.) On the other hand, IBD is also associated with both acute and chronic pancreatitis, autoimmune pancreatitis, gallstones, and other pancreatic conditions that can present more significant medical risks. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “Both the IBD-ologists and the pancreas specialists are very interested in how these conditions might be linked, and I t...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Gut health Source Type: news