July 1, 2022 – Travis Barker, drummer for rock band blink-182, was hospitalized this week in Los Angeles with pancreatitis.
Barker, 46, husband of movie star influencer Kourtney Kardashian, lately had a colonoscopy to test for colon most cancers. Specialists have weighed in on how probably the hyperlink is between his colonoscopy and pancreatitis.
“It is doable, but it surely’s uncommon,” says Timothy B. Gardner, MD, director of pancreatic issues at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Heart in Lebanon, NH.
“It is exceedingly uncommon,” agrees Vladimir M Kushnir, MD. “Colonoscopy is an especially protected and lifesaving process.”
Severe issues from a colonoscopy occur nicely lower than 1 in 1,000 instances, he says.
Solely 5 instances of pancreatitis after a colonoscopy have been reported in medical literature, Kushnir says, normally after very onerous procedures. “This isn’t one thing I might ever fear about if I had been having a colonoscopy or a member of the family was having a colonoscopy,” says Kushnir, director of bariatric endoscopy at Washington College College of Medication in St. Louis.
“I’ve performed hundreds and hundreds of colonoscopies, and I’ve by no means had a affected person develop pancreatitis,” Gardner says.
One factor stays unclear: how a lot time there was between Barker’s colonoscopy and his pancreatitis. Usually, the pancreas must change into infected inside 24 to 48 hours to be associated, Gardner says.
Extra Frequent Causes
The pancreas is an enormous digestive gland that sits behind the abdomen. It might get infected for quite a lot of causes, however it’s most frequently associated to gallstone illness or extreme alcohol use.
When the pancreas will get infected, it might probably trigger stomach ache and nausea. “Generally, it will get higher in a number of days,” Kushnir says. “However in some uncommon instances, sufferers can get right into a critical inflammatory situation and it may be fairly extreme. Pancreatitis is definitely one of the vital widespread gastrointestinal circumstances to require hospitalization.”
Gardner agrees that most individuals with pancreatitis get better inside a number of days. He additionally notes that some medicines and pancreatic most cancers can even trigger pancreatitis.
Anatomy Lesson
One a part of the colon is known as the splenic flexure, which is on the left higher a part of the stomach that sits proper subsequent to the tail of the pancreas. “So they’re proper subsequent to one another,” Gardner says.
“So conceivably, if we’re doing a colonoscopy, the strain may trigger mechanical contact with that a part of the pancreas,” he says. However once more, it’s extremely uncommon.
Based on a report in Individuals, Barker entered Cedars-Sinai Hospital on Tuesday with cramps, excessive abdomen ache, and problem strolling.
