Intense pain from this condition sent Travis Barker to the hospital

When Travis Barker, the drummer for the band Blink-182 and the husband of Kourtney Kardashian, was hospitalized for acute pancreatitis last month, he brought national attention to a serious condition most people have never heard of.

In a statement on his Instagram account, Barker expressed gratitude to his medical team for saving him from the life-threatening condition. He also said his illness was the result of an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).

“Doing an ERCP does carry a risk of pancreatitis,” said Falmouth Gastroenterologist Joseph Cobb, MD. (Research shows it occurs in about two to 10 percent of patients.) “But the most common reasons are gallstones and alcohol.”

Alcohol can cause the pancreas to produce toxic substances as the alcohol is metabolized. Gallstones can cause a physical blockage that prevents the pancreas from doing its job.

“The bile duct and pancreatic duct empty in the same place into the upper part of the small intestine,” Dr. Cobb said. “If a stone blocks one, it could block the other as well. Typically, it’s the smaller stones that cause the pancreatitis. The bigger stones rarely make it out of the gall bladder.”

According to a fact sheet published by The National Pancreas Foundation, nearly 220,000 people each year will be afflicted with acute pancreatitis. Despite advances in treatment, the mortality rate for acute pancreatitis is about 10 percent. Another 80,000 people develop chronic pancreatitis per year. It’s not a kind disease. The 10-year mortality rate for chronic pancreatitis is 30 percent and the 20-year mortality rate is 55 percent.

In his statement, Barker spoke about the intense pain that led him to the hospital. Pain is the most significant symptom of pancreatitis. It starts in the center of your abdomen and often radiates to the back, Dr. Cobb said.

“It’s not a subtle pain,” he said. “It’s a very bad pain. If you have pancreatitis pain, you’re going to be going to the hospital.”

To understand why the condition is so painful, it’s necessary to think about what the pancreas does.

“The endocrine function is that it makes insulin, so you can control your sugars,” Dr. Cobb said. “But the exocrine function is the part that helps you digest your food. It makes enzymes to break down fats, which break down proteins and so, when you get pancreatitis, these enzymes which are usually secreted into the intestine in an inactive form, get activated in the pancreas. Those enzymes that are supposed to digest food start digesting your pancreas.”

How It’s Diagnosed

There are several ways doctors diagnose pancreatitis. At the hospital, a CAT scan would always be ordered to check if the pancreas is swollen with any fluid around it. There are also blood tests that check for the presence of certain enzymes. With pancreatitis, those enzymes would be elevated three times higher than normal, according to Dr. Cobb.

Once a diagnosis is made, the cure is supportive care in the hospital. In order to quiet the pancreas down, the patient would be hooked up to an IV and not eat for a couple of days because eating stimulates the pancreas to make more enzymes. Then the patient is carefully monitored to watch for complications like an infection.

The next step in care is to look into why the pancreatitis occurred to begin with. If it is because of gallstones, most people will have their gallbladders removed. If it is due to an excess of alcohol, lifestyle modifications will be recommended.

After the first bout, most people will never have another bout with pancreatitis, Dr. Cobb said. Unfortunately, some will go on to develop chronic pancreatitis, which is a debilitating health condition, he added. People with chronic pancreatitis need treatment for pain. A number of them will become diabetic because they’ve damaged too many insulin-producing cells. They will also need supplementary digestive enzymes with meals to replace the digestive enzymes their pancreas no longer makes.