Nutrition in children with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency

Yuhua Zheng; Shikib Mostamand

doi:10.3389/fped.2023.943649

Nutrition in children with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency

Front Pediatr. 2023 May 5:11:943649. doi: 10.3389/fped.2023.943649. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yuhua Zheng¹, Shikib Mostamand²

Affiliations

¹ Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
² Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Stanford Children's Health & Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, United States.

Abstract

Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) is a condition defined as pancreatic loss of exocrine function, including decreased digestive enzymes and bicarbonate secretion, which leads to maldigestion and malabsorption of nutrients. It is a common complication in many pancreatic disorders. If left undiagnosed, EPI can cause poor digestion of food, chronic diarrhea, severe malnutrition and related complications. Nutritional status and fat-soluble vitamins should be carefully assessed and monitored in patients with EPI. Early diagnosis of EPI is clinically important for appropriate nutritional support and initiating pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) which could significantly improve patient outcomes. The evaluation of nutritional status and related unique management in children with EPI will be discussed in this review.

Keywords: PERT; calories; cystic fibrosis; exocrine pancreatic insufficiency; fat-soluble vitamins; malnutrition; nutrition; pancreatitis.

Publication types

Review