La insuficiencia pancreática exocrina: estado actual de su conocimiento entre los profesionales de Argentina

Background. Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency is defined as the inability to maintain pancreatic secretion or maintain normal food digestion. It is an underdiagnosed entity. Objective. To collect information from the health professionals of different specialties in our country on the current state of knowledge of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Material and method. During the period comprising from August to November 2018, an anonymous survey was conducted. The survey was sent by e-mail. 447 professionals responded from a total of 2054 surveys sent. Results. We observed that a significant proportion of professionals did not relate exocrine pancreatic insufficiency with various etiologies that may cause it. Typical exocrine pancreatic insufficiency symptoms such as diarrhea-steatorrhea (96.2%) and the weight loss (85%) were the most chosen. Regarding diagnostic methods, digestive symptoms (60.6%) and the fecal elastase test (59.5%) were the most selected options. Regarding treatment, most chose to indicate the intake of the PERT capsules during food ingestion (61.3%). Only the 37.4% chose the initial dose recommended by most guidelines. A varied diet without fat restriction was indicated by the 40% of the respondents. In relation to the control of response to treatment, the improvement of symptoms (87.5%) and anthropometry (59.7) were the most used parameters. Most professionals do not use clinical guidelines for the management of these patients and only 22% used the guidelines. Conclusion. Based on the data obtained in this survey, we observed that a significant proportion of professionals do not know the relevant aspects in relation to the etiology, the clinical manifestations, the diagnosis, and the nutritional and pharmacological management of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency.