What is the Difference Between Gastritis and Pancreatitis

The key difference between gastritis and pancreatitis is that gastritis is the inflammation, irritation, or erosion of the lining of the stomach, while pancreatitis is the inflammation of the pancreas.

Diseases of the digestive system affect millions of people worldwide each year. These conditions involve the digestive tract or gastrointestinal tract. The gastrointestinal tract includes the esophagus, liver, stomach, small and large intestine, gall bladder, and pancreas. The common symptoms of these conditions are bleeding, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, pain, nausea, and vomiting. Gastritis and pancreatitis are two types of digestive system diseases.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Gastritis 
3. What is Pancreatitis
4. Similarities – Gastritis and Pancreatitis
5. Gastritis vs Pancreatitis in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Gastritis vs Pancreatitis

What is Gastritis?

Gastritis is the inflammation, irritation, or erosion of the lining of the stomach. Gastritis can occur suddenly (acute gastritis) or gradually (chronic gastritis). Normally, gastritis can be caused due to excessive alcohol use, stress, chronic vomiting, or the use of certain medications such as aspirin or other anti-inflammatory drugs. It can also be caused by other factors such as Helicobacter pyroli (a bacterium usually lives in the mucous lining of the stomach), bile reflux (the backflow of bile into the stomach from the bile tract), and infections by other bacteria and viruses. The most common symptoms include abdominal bloating, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, indigestion, burning feeling in the stomach between meals, hiccups, loss of appetite, vomiting blood or coffee ground-like material, and black, tarry appearance of stools.

The diagnosis of gastritis can be performed through reviewing family medical history, physical evaluation, upper endoscopy, blood test (checking for red blood cell count and screening for H. Pyroli infection), and fecal occult blood test (stool test). The treatments for gastritis include taking antacids and other drugs (proton pump inhibitors and H2 blockers), avoiding hot and spicy foods, antibiotics for infections and acids blocking drugs for heartburn,  vitamin B12 shots (for pernicious anemia condition due to gastritis), and eliminating irritating foods such as lactose from dairy and gluten from wheat.

What is Pancreatitis?

Pancreatitis is a medical condition that involves the inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas is a long flat gland tucked behind the stomach. It is located in the upper abdomen and produces enzymes that help digestion. Pancreas also produces hormones that regulate sugar levels in the human body. Moreover, pancreatitis can occur suddenly and lasts for days (acute pancreatitis), or it may develop over many years (chronic pancreatitis). Pancreatitis normally occurs when digestive enzymes become activated while still in the pancreas. This irritates the cells in the pancreas. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), which is a procedure used to treat gallstones, can also cause pancreatitis. Sometimes, the cause of pancreatitis is not known. This is called idiopathic pancreatitis.

The other conditions that can lead to acute pancreatitis include gallstones, alcoholism, certain medications, hypertriglyceridemia, hypercalcemia, hyperparathyroidism, pancreatic surgery, abdominal surgery, cystic fibrosis, infection, injury to the abdomen, and obesity. The symptoms of acute pancreatitis include upper abdominal pain, abdominal pain that radiates to the back, tenderness touching the abdomen, fever, rapid pulse, nausea, and vomiting. On the other hand, the symptoms of chronic pancreatitis include upper abdominal pain, abdominal pain that worsens after eating, unintentional weight loss, and oily and smelly stool.

Pancreatitis can be generally diagnosed through blood tests (for elevated levels of pancreatic enzymes, white blood cells, and kidney function), abdominal ultrasound, CT scan, MRI, endoscopic ultrasound, and stool tests. Furthermore, treatment options for pancreatitis include early eating, pain medications, intravenous fluid for dehydration, procedures to remove bile duct obstruction, gallbladder surgery, pancreases procedures (draining fluid from the pancreas and removing diseased tissues), treatment for alcohol dependence, medication changes, enzymes to improve digestion, and changes to diet.

What are the Similarities Between Gastritis and Pancreatitis?

• Gastritis and pancreatitis are two types of digestive system diseases.
• Both medical conditions can be caused due to similar causes, such as infections.
• They can show similar symptoms, such as abdominal pain.
• Both medical conditions can be diagnosed through similar techniques such as blood tests and endoscopy.
• They are treated through specific medications.

What is the Difference Between Gastritis and Pancreatitis?

Gastritis is the inflammation, irritation, or erosion of the lining of the stomach, while pancreatitis is the inflammation of the pancreas. So, this is the key difference between gastritis and pancreatitis. Furthermore, the disease frequency of gastritis is 8 out of 1,000 people per year. On the other hand, the disease frequency of pancreatitis is 30 out of 100,000 people per year.

The below infographic presents the differences between gastritis and pancreatitis in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

Summary – Gastritis vs Pancreatitis

Gastritis and pancreatitis are two different types of digestive system diseases. Gastritis is the inflammation, irritation, or erosion of the lining of the stomach, while pancreatitis is the inflammation of the pancreas. Thus, this is the key difference between gastritis and pancreatitis.

Reference:

1. “Gastritis: Indigestion, Symptoms, Causes, Treatment, Diagnosis.” Cleveland Clinic.
2. “Pancreatitis.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Distribution of Gastritis” By MIT OpenCourseWare (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) via Flickr
2. “Pancreatic stellate cell activation in chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer” By Robert Jaster – Molecular regulation of pancreatic stellate cell function (CC BY 2.0) via Commons Wikimedia