Pancreas Health

Your pancreas is a gland in your upper abdomen. It’s part of your digestive system and your endocrine system. It has two main functions:

• To produce enzymes that aid digestion
• To produce hormones, including insulin and glucagon, which regulate blood sugar levels

Diabetes is, perhaps, the pancreatic condition that's most well-known. It occurs when your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or doesn’t use it correctly.

The Pancreas Center specializes in treating a range of pancreatic diseases and conditions.

Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis refers to inflammation of your pancreas. It causes digestive enzymes to attack and damage surrounding tissues. This can result in severe upper abdominal pain that may get worse after eating.

Pancreatitis may be acute (starts suddenly) or chronic (ongoing). If you have chronic pancreatitis, inflammation worsens over time. This can lead to permanent tissue damage, malabsorption, diabetes and severe pain. You might feel the pain a few times a week or constantly.

In some cases, heavy alcohol use and smoking can be associated with chronic pancreatitis. But some people who develop the condition have no known cause. Our research has discovered that about half of the people with chronic pancreatitis also have mutations in certain genes, including in the gene that causes cystic fibrosis. This discovery is leading to new therapies aimed at correcting defects in the gene.

Pancreatic Cancer and other Tumors of the Pancreas

We are part of the team of experts at BIDMC who diagnose and treat cancers of the pancreas and offer preventive strategies to screen, survey, and treat high-risk patients. Working with colleagues in the Pancreatic Cancer Program, we provide diagnostic tests and treatment that put you and your family first.

As part of your treatment, you may benefit from advanced, minimally invasive surgical treatment. You also have access to new therapies being studied in clinical trials.

Each year, our surgeons perform more than 160 major pancreatic operations. This means you receive your care at a hospital that's among the top five medical centers in the country for the number of pancreatic surgeries performed. That experience leads to better outcomes for our patients.

Other Pancreatic Disorders

• Autoimmune pancreatitis — Pancreatitis that occurs when your body’s immune system attacks your pancreas
• Congenital pancreas disorder including Pancreas divisum — A congenital defect that affects the way the ducts connect to the pancreas, as well as other pancreatic abnormalities present at birth
• Pancreatic cysts — Sac-like structures that can be either benign, pre-cancerous, cancerous or somewhere in between
• Pancreatic insufficiency — A condition in which your pancreas doesn’t make adequate enzymes needed for digestion resulting in malabsorption and mineral and vitamin deficiencies
• Pancreatitis associated with genetic mutations including the gene that causes cystic fibrosis as well as hereditary pancreatitis
• Evaluation of upper abdominal pain thought to be pancreatitis

If you’re at high risk for pancreatic cancer, we offer screening for the disease.

To diagnose pancreas problems, your doctor will do a physical exam and talk to you about your symptoms and medical history. In addition, the doctor may order lab work in additional to one or more of these imaging tests.

Endoscopic Secretin Pancreatic Function Test

Chronic pancreatitis can be difficult to diagnose. In some cases, results on CT scans, MRI and standard blood tests are normal. If we think you might have pancreatitis, but imaging and blood work don’t confirm it, we may recommend a secretin pancreatic function test, endoscopic ultrasonography of the pancreas, or a special type of MRI of the pancreas known as secretin-MRCP.

The test tells us how well your pancreas is working. Our Pancreas Center is one of the few centers in the world that performs an endoscopic secretin pancreatic function test. This highly sensitive test can diagnose pancreatitis up to three years before there are changes visible on an MRI or CT scan.

Get a Second Opinion at the Pancreas Center

We're happy to provide second opinions and specialize in cases of abdominal pain that are difficult to pinpoint. We can help get you an accurate diagnosis and the treatment you need. Please call 617-667-5576.

When you come in for care at the Pancreas Center, you will get advanced diagnostic, multidisciplinary care and facilitate care across necessary specialties. In many cases, restoring the digestive ability of the pancreas is a key goal of treatment. Often, we do this with medications called pancreatic enzymes. 

At BIDMC we are studying transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in clinical trials. These treatments target and calm the networks in your brain that register pain. They may relieve pain in up to 70% of people, and they don't come with the risks — including addiction — of narcotic pain medicines.

In certain cases, you might benefit from an endoscopic procedure. For example, we might drain a pancreatic cyst or place a stent to open up a blocked or narrowed pancreatic duct.

For some conditions, pancreas surgery may be the best treatment. Our surgeons offer expert surgical care. We can discuss treatment options with you to determine what best meets your needs.

Total Pancreatectomy: Removing Your Pancreas

Total pancreatectomy is surgery that removes your entire pancreas. It also removes your gallbladder and common bile duct, portions of your small intestine and stomach, and often your spleen. The procedure may be the right choice for you if you have chronic pancreatitis or are at risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

This is major surgery, so it isn’t right for everyone. Even if we remove your pancreas, there’s a 50/50 chance that you’ll continue to feel the exact pain you felt before surgery.

Living without a pancreas is possible. However, you need to learn how carefully to manage your health and give yourself pancreatic enzymes. It’s likely you’ll develop a form of diabetes known as Type 3c diabetes mellitus. We are one of the leading medical centers in the world for the management of the diabetes and pancreatic enzyme needs in patients who have undergone a total pancreatectomy.

Often, we can harvest islets — the cells that make insulin and other hormones — from your pancreas and reinject them into you a few days later. This may help minimize the diabetes that develops after total pancreatectomy. However, if we find precancerous or cancerous cells in your pancreas, we’re unable to harvest islets.

Total pancreatectomy patients are informed partners in their own care, and we strive to provide comprehensive resources for each of our patients.

Pancreas Transplant

If you have Type 1 diabetes and serious complications related to the disease or have experienced traumatic loss of your pancreas, you may be a candidate for a pancreas transplant. BIDMC has a comprehensive pancreas transplant program.

Other Services

Other services you can receive through the Pancreas Center:

• Genetic testing for pancreatic disease
• Help managing complications from prior pancreatic surgery
• Nutritional and lifestyle counseling for living with pancreatic disease
• Surveillance, if you have with a family or personal history of pancreatic cancer