A patient has just been diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis. The patient is underweight and in severe pain and diagnostic testing indicates that over 80% of the patient's pancreas has been destroyed
The patient asks the nurse why the diagnosis was not made earlier in the disease process. What would be the nurse's best response?
A) "The symptoms of pancreatitis mimic those of much less serious illnesses."
B) "Your body doesn't require pancreatic function until it is under great stress, so it is easy to go unnoticed."
C) "Chronic pancreatitis often goes undetected until a large majority of pancreatic function is lost."
D) "It's likely that your other organs were compensating for your decreased pancreatic function."
Ans: C
Feedback:
By the time symptoms occur in chronic pancreatitis, approximately 90% of normal acinar cell function (exocrine function) has been lost. Late detection is not usually attributable to the vagueness of symptoms. The pancreas contributes continually to homeostasis and other organs are unable to perform its physiologic functions.
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