Active clinical trials for "Pancreatitis, Chronic"

Malnutrition and loss of muscle mass are common in patients with chronic pancreatitis. However, there is only limited data on nutritional treatment. In this study, malnourished patients with chronic pancreatitis will receive an intensified nutritional therapy to improve nutritional status. The aim of the study is that malnutrition in patients with chronic pancreatitis can be successfully treated.

Chronic pancreatitis is a progressive inflammatory disease of the pancreas characterized by destruction of pancreatic parenchyma and subsequent fibrosis. Patients with chronic pancreatitis can be treated with medical management, endoscopic therapy and surgical treatment. Among the various theories of causation of pain in chronic pancreatitis, there is theory of ductal hypertension. In this the pancreatic duct obstruction resulting in ductal dilatation, ductal hypertension and parenchymal hypertension is thought to be the cause of pain. For patients with dilated ducts, ductal decompression is advocated. Ductal decompression can be achieved by endoscopy and by surgery. Surgery comprises of lateral pancreaticojejunostomy with or without headcoring. Endoscopic treatment includes sphincterotomy, dilatation of strictures, removal of stones with or without extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) and stenting. The pros and cons of endoscopic versus surgical therapy are debated. Lateral pancreaticojejunostomy relieves chronic abdominal pain in 65%-93% of patients. Morbidity and mortality rates are generally low, averaging 20% and 2%, respectively. Long-term follow-up of patients after lateral pancreaticojejunostomy reveals that up to 50% of patients develop recurrent symptoms and 10%-35% fail to obtain pain relief. Studies indicate that more than 60% of patients undergoing pancreatic endotherapy are pain free 1 year after the procedure. There are only two randomized controlled trials comparing endoscopic treatment with the surgical therapy. In this study the investigators will be conducting a randomized trial, to compare endoscopic and surgical treatment of chronic pancreatitis. Outcome variables measured in the study will include pain relief, quality of life, morbidity, mortality, length of hospital stay and changes in pancreatic function.

Pain mechanisms in chronic pancreatitis (CP) are heterogeneous and includes nociception, pancreatic neuropathy and central neuropathy/neuroplasty. These mechanisms could occur simultaneously in variable proportions and could explain why several patients develop recurrence of pain even after being treated by all the currently available modalities, such as antioxidants, endoscopic therapies and surgery. In the studies by the investigators over the past 2 years, they observed that persistent pain in these patients was associated with varying grades of depression and poor quality of life. This was accompanied by alteration in the metabolites in the brain (anterior cingulate cortex, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and basal ganglia) as evidenced in magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of the brain. These areas in the brain are responsible for pain modulation, long-term pain memory and emotional responses to pain. When the investigators counselled these patients and explained their disease and possible outcomes based on their own clinical course, imaging and treatment response (personalized education/counselling), they reported significant improvement in depression, quality of life parameters and, interestingly, also in pain. Further, there were changes in the metabolite parameters in the brain on MRS after personalized counselling/education that was more similar to that of healthy controls. This led to our hypothesis that better understanding of the disease and its outcomes by the patients could improve their coping capabilities and increase their pain thresholds. This could augment the pain responses of these patients to the other therapeutic modalities. We will conduct this single blinded, placebo controlled, randomized controlled trial on patients with documented CP of over 3 years duration, who had at least 5 episodes of abdominal pain of over the past 6 months.

Chronic pancreatitis is a progressive inflammatory disease resulting in slow destruction of the pancreas. This chronic inflammation can lead to chronic abdominal pain which can last for many years. Unfortunately, medical management often is of only limited benefit in treating the pain of chronic pancreatitis. Management of patients with intractable pain is difficult, often resulting in narcotic addiction. Early results in a small group of patients suggest that percutaneous radiofrequent lesioning of splanchnic nerves has good potential for pain control in a subset of patients with chronic pancreatitis. Given the simplicity of the procedure, it clearly warrants reappraisal to identify its current role in pancreatic pain management.

This study compares the diagnostic performance of Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) guided fine needle aspiration and EUS guided core biopsy (SharkCore) in patients with a solid pancreatic mass.

This proposed project is designed to collect data and specimens from patients/subjects presenting to the University of Michigan with a disease affecting the pancreas (or specific control populations). This protocol is focused on collecting data, blood samples, and tissue on subjects with pancreatic diseases, including pancreatic cancer, pancreatic cysts, pancreatitis, diabetic controls, jaundice/biliary obstruction controls, and otherwise healthy controls. We are collecting up to 50 mls of blood for research purposes only. Plasma, serum and buffy coat are collected and stored according to strict SOPs.

Alterations in pancreatic blood have been implicated in pancreatic inflammation and pain. Several modalities have been used to assess pancreatic blood flow although some of these methods are invasive, use ionising radiation or intravenous contrast media. This is the first study to utilise non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging to quantify flow within arteries supplying the pancreas and pancreatic perfusion is response to secretin stimulation.

This is a investigator-initiated, single-center, prospective study to evaluate endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) as a diagnostic test for chronic pancreatitis (CP). EUS detects abnormalities of the pancreas that may represent scarring from CP. The validation of any new test requires a comparison with the best available reference standards. There is no true "gold standard" for diagnosis of CP; however, pancreatic function testing (PFT) is highly sensitive for exocrine dysfunction as a surrogate for early fibrosis, and is widely considered the non-histologic gold standard. There are no well-designed prospective studies comparing EUS with PFT as reference standard. EUS detects parenchymal and ductal features of CP said to correlate with fibrosis. We hypothesize that a predominance of parenchymal fibrosis results in diminished acinar-cell secretion of enzymes. Conversely, a predominance of ductal fibrosis results in impairment of ductal secretion of bicarbonate. Because secretin and cholecystokinin (CCK) PFTs measure unique aspects of pancreatic function (duct-cell and acinar-cell function, respectively), the use of both hormonal stimulants will allow the most comprehensive investigation of the significance of EUS features. There are no studies comparing EUS with combined or dual performance of secretin and CCK PFTs. The primary objective of this study is to determine the test characteristics of EUS for diagnosis of CP compared with dual secretin- and CCK- stimulated PFTs as reference standard. Secondary objectives include to: 1. Determine the optimal number and relative functional importance of specific EUS criteria, 2. Compare the test characteristics of linear- and radial-array EUS. 190 patients evaluated for pancreatitis or pancreatic-type abdominal pain will undergo the "new test" (radial and linear EUS) and the reference standard (CCK and secretin PFTs). The EUS examinations will be videotaped and interpreted in a blinded fashion. EUS scores will be compared with PFT results to allow the calculation of sensitivity and specificity of linear and radial EUS. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis will be used to determine the optimal number of EUS criteria for diagnosis.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the malabsorption blood test (MBT), stool coefficient of fat absorption (CFA) and stool bomb calorimetry (BC) methods as potential screening or diagnostic tests for reduced exocrine pancreatic function or pancreatic insufficiency (RPF/PI). A further objective is to determine the test responses before and after pancreatic enzyme medication administration (Creon36™) in the patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP).

The objective is to clarify Roux-en-Y anastomosis of the pancreatic stump decreases pancreatic fistula following distal pancreatectomy, compared with stapling closure of the pancreatic stump.