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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Diagnosis and Tests

Learn More

• Living With
• Specifics
• Genetics

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Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Reference Desk
• Find an Expert

For You

• Patient Handouts

Summary

The pancreas is a gland behind your stomach and in front of your spine. It produces juices that help break down food and hormones that help control blood sugar levels. Problems with the pancreas can lead to many health problems. These include:

• Pancreatitis, or inflammation of the pancreas: This happens when digestive enzymes start digesting the pancreas itself
• Pancreatic cancer
• Cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder in which thick, sticky mucus can also block tubes in your pancreas

The pancreas also plays a role in diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, the beta cells of the pancreas no longer make insulin because the body's immune system has attacked them. In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas loses the ability to secrete enough insulin in response to meals.

Start Here

• Pancreas Disease (National Pancreas Foundation)
• Power of Your Pancreas: Keep Your Digestive Juices Flowing (National Institutes of Health)

Diagnosis and Tests

• Amylase Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Chymotrypsin in Stool (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
• Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) Isoenzymes Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Lipase Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Stool Elastase (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Living With

• Nutrition & Cookbook (National Pancreas Foundation)

Specifics

• Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
• Hyperinsulinemia: Is it diabetes? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Pancreatic Cysts (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
• Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

Genetics

• Shwachman-Diamond syndrome: MedlinePlus Genetics (National Library of Medicine)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Pancreatic Diseases (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: The risk factors affecting effect of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy for...
• Article: Safety of early feeding after endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle biopsy: a...
• Article: "Evaluation of hepatobiliary disorders using magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography in a low-resource...
• Pancreatic Diseases -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• What Is the Pancreas? (Johns Hopkins University, Department of Pathology)

Find an Expert

• ASGE: Find a Doctor (American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy)
• Find an Endocrinologist (Endocrine Society)
• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Patient Handouts

• Acute pancreatitis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Amylase - blood (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Annular pancreas (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• ERCP (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Lipase test (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Pancreatic pseudocyst (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish