Antioxidants, Chronic Pancreatitis Reduces Pain

According to the results of a research conducted, the use of antioxidant food supplements has been shown to reduce oxidative stress levels and pain in chronic pancreatitis (CP) patients. While CP is considered a chronic and progressive inflammatory disease of pancreatitis, CP patients are experiencing complaints of abdominal pain especially in the first stages of the disease. Pain is a major complaint in about 90% of patients, and there are not many other medications available to prevent this pain. For this reason, in order to reduce the pain in CP patients, the mechanism of disease and pain is investigated and new treatment methods are being tested.



This placebo-controlled, double-blind, and 127-patient study included a mean age of 30 patients. The patients were divided into two groups, one group was given antioxidant supplements and the other group was not given. When the patients were evaluated 6 months after the start of the study, it was determined that the pain intensity in the antioxidant group was significantly reduced compared to the other groups and the number of painless days was higher. However, the amounts of painkillers used with antioxidants decreased significantly in the group using antioxidants. In the antioxidant group, five painkillers were consumed on average per month, while the other group consumed an average of 11 painkillers. In addition, although 13% of patients in the non-antioxidant group say they have no pain, 32% of patients in the antioxidant group report no pain complaints. It has been found that the beneficial beneficial effects of antioxidant use begin to be felt after an average of 3 months.

Pramoud Kumar Garg, director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, says about KP: "It is extremely difficult to reduce the severity of the most common symptom in CP patients, which is why the cause of the pain has not been fully understood. research has found that the use of antioxidants has significantly reduced the rate and frequency of pain, which in turn has increased the quality of life and workforce of the patients. "


As a result of the study, it was determined that oxidative stress was initially increased in CP patients but oxidative stress was decreased by using antioxidant. In short, it has been understood that with the use of antioxidants, this damage may be reversible, with pancreatic damage caused by increased free radicals in CP patients. The second finding is that antioxidant treatment reduces the severity and severity of pain in CP patients. This is a very important finding. Because there is no current treatment option for pain specifically for CP patients.