Symptoms of the pancreas cyst

In connection with the diversity of the etiological factors of the onset of the disease, as well as the size and number of cysts, their different location (head, body, tail of the pancreas), the symptoms of the pancreatic cysts are extremely diverse.

Congenital, retentional, and sometimes false and traumatic cysts may be asymptomatic for a while. In some cases, only with careful questioning the patient can establish that in the past he suffered acute pancreatitis or stomach injury, which worries the doctor in terms of conducting a more detailed study of the pancreas in such a patient. Sometimes the cyst or cysts of the pancreas are detected by chance: during a clinical examination, during the ultrasound of the abdomen (which in recent years, due to harmlessness for the patient and high information content, came in first place among the instrumental methods of the study) or with CT. In some cases, radiologists with a contrast study of the upper divisions of the gastrointestinal tract note the displacement of the stomach or transverse colon by some kind of formation located in the area of localization of the pancreas.

Sometimes the "swelling" or "tumor-like formation" gradually increasing in size and located in the left half of the abdomen attracts the patient's attention and forces him to consult a doctor.

However, most often dyspeptic disorders, pain in the left hypochondrium, often around the character, diarrhea, thirst and polyuria and other signs of chronic pancreatitis are leading, especially with an alcoholic history and characteristic appearance of the patient. Considering all these factors, the doctor prescribes a test, in which cysts are identified.

Often the symptoms of chronic pancreatitis are very pronounced and strongly disturb the patient.

Course, complications of pancreatic cysts

Due to the etiological and morphological diversity of pancreatic cysts, their clinical course has many options - from asymptomatic or almost asymptomatic to cases with severe severe symptoms, constant painful almost unceasing pain, symptoms of digestive disorders due to insufficiency of the exocrine function of the pancreas, severe manifestations of diabetes mellitus, which is the consequence lesions of pancreatic islets, a significant decrease in body weight, due to the violation of all digestive processes in the intestine and absorption of its final products - monomers: amino acids, monosaccharides, fatty acids, as well as vitamins, etc.

Possible complications of pancreatic cysts are also extremely diverse. One of the relatively common is the breakthrough of the cyst into a hollow organ, which in some cases can cause additional complications: bleeding, suppuration, exacerbation of pancreatitis, etc. But in some cases, a breakthrough in the cyst can lead to an improvement in the general condition of the patient: the pain decreases or disappears, with large cysts, the symptoms of compression of neighboring organs and surrounding cyst and still functioning pancreatic tissue are eliminated (and this compression usually contributes to tissue atrophy and the development of fibrosis). A breakthrough of the cyst in the free abdominal cavity may be the cause of peritonitis. The compression of the cyst located in the head of the pancreas, the terminal part of the common bile duct, can cause cholestasis and mechanical subhepatic jaundice with all its symptoms. Cysts can also be inflamed, the formation of a variety of fistulas, usually difficult to heal, bleeding, including massive, with blood flow into the gastrointestinal tract and the development of severe iron deficiency anemia. There may be bleeding in the cyst itself. A large cyst of the head of the pancreas can squeeze the duodenum, disrupting the patency of the contents coming from the stomach. P. Banks, who is considered one of the leading American pancreatologists, lists in his monograph (1982) such rare but pseudocyst complications as rupture of the spleen, bleeding from the splenic artery, breakthrough pseudocysts into the esophagus, etc.

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