The clinical picture of pancreatic insufficiency

Minor degrees of pancreatic insufficiency may go unrecognized. There is a paucity of symptoms and physical findings in mild and moderate degrees of insufficiency and in such circumstances laboratory methods are necessary to determine the presence of insufficiency. The clinical picture when insufficiency is well established may be characterized by loss in weight; vague indigestion; voluminous, light-colored, glistening stools in which fat globulets may be seen; changes in the concentration of pancreatic enzymes in the blood indicative of lowered pancreatic function; diminished amounts of pancreatic enzymes in the duodenal juice, and the related poor digestion of fat and protein in the food. Lowered tolerance of carbohydrate, as found in diabetes mellitus, may or may not be present. The location and character of the disease in the pancreas causing the insufficiency may or may not be apparent.