Symptoms can occur within days to months after an attack of pancreatitis, and include:

• Bloating of the abdomen
• Constant pain or deep ache in the abdomen, which may also be felt in the back
• Difficulty eating and digesting food

The health care provider may palpate your abdomen to feel for a pseudocyst, which feels like a mass in the middle or left upper abdomen.

Tests that may help diagnose pancreatic pseudocyst include:

• Abdominal CT scan
• Abdominal MRI
• Abdominal ultrasound

Images

Endocrine glands

Pancreatic pseudocyst, CT scan

Pancreas

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Pancreatic pseudocyst Overview

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Pancreatic pseudocyst Treatment

Review Date: 01/20/2010
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; George F. Longstreth, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, San Diego, CA. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)