[Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Organic and functional deficiencies]

The exocrine pancreas is a gland which secretes water, enzymes and electrolytes into the intestinal lunar. These enzymes for the normal digestion of food and a deficit, whether due to a seduced secretion (chronic pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis), or dysfunction in the chronology of their secretion (following truncal vagotomy) will cause malabsorption which often develops, in clinical terms, into malnutrition sometimes this functional deficit is secondary to other pathologies or surgical operations which alter the digestive tract physiology, preventing the correct combination of nutrients and pancreatic enzymes together with the biliary salts. The outcome is malabsorption, mainly of fast and fat soluble vitamins. As the onset is slow and forms part of a chronic, pathology, diagnosis is difficult, for which reason it is included in the general group of malabsorption due to pancreatic insufficiency or surgical sequelae, finally resulting in pancreatic failure or problems following surgery. The purpose of this publication is to review one by one all the situations in which there is an alteration in the function of the pancreatic enzymes, with emphasis on cases in which a defined malabsorption syndrome will result, and in which the prescription of exogenous pancreatic enzymes will imposiue the picture.