[Chronic pancreatitis and the skeleton]

Abstract

The aim of our work was to determine the incidence of bone demineralization in patients with chronic pancreatitis, following the relation between the funcionality of the pancreatic tissue and etiological factors in the development of osteopathy and calciophosphate metabolism. Prospectivelly, during 1 year we followed 55 patients with chronic pancreatitis of different etiology verified by endoultrasound. Patients with other possible cause of osteopathy were not included in the group. In the following of calciophosphate metabolism we determined different biochemical parameters and we measured the bone mass with densitometry in standard locations. In the patients that we followed we managed to show high proportion (43.7%) of bone demineralization, however, no relation between the bone demineralization and the grade of chronic pancreatitis or the operation of pancreas was proved. Vitamin D deficiency has a significantly negative impact on bone metabolism, which is potentiated by pancreatic insufficiency and long-time alcohol abuse.