July 1, 2022 – Travis Barker, drummer for rock band blink-182, was hospitalized this week in Los Angeles with pancreatitis.
Barker, 46, husband of superstar influencer Kourtney Kardashian, just lately had a colonoscopy to test for colon most cancers. Specialists have weighed in on how seemingly the hyperlink is between his colonoscopy and pancreatitis.
“It is attainable, but it surely’s uncommon,” says Timothy B. Gardner, MD, director of pancreatic problems at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Heart in Lebanon, NH.
“It is exceedingly uncommon,” agrees Vladimir M Kushnir, MD. “Colonoscopy is a particularly secure and lifesaving process.”
Critical problems from a colonoscopy occur properly 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 arduous 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 completed 1000’s and 1000’s 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 turn into infected inside 24 to 48 hours to be associated, Gardner says.
Extra Widespread Causes
The pancreas is an enormous digestive gland that sits behind the abdomen. It will probably get infected for a wide range of causes, however it’s most frequently associated to gallstone illness or extreme alcohol use.
When the pancreas will get infected, it will probably trigger stomach ache and nausea. “Usually, 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 frequent gastrointestinal situations to require hospitalization.”
Gardner agrees that most individuals with pancreatitis get well inside a number of days. He additionally notes that some drugs and pancreatic most cancers also can 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 stress might trigger mechanical contact with that a part of the pancreas,” he says. However once more, it’s extremely uncommon.
In accordance with a report in Individuals, Barker entered Cedars-Sinai Hospital on Tuesday with cramps, excessive abdomen ache, and issue strolling.
