Pancreatic exocrine function in systemic sclerosis

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Abstract
Lundh tests of pancreatic exocrine function were performed on 20 unselected patients with systemic sclerosis. Three patients had very low levels of tryptic activity in their intestinal juice and only 9 had results which were unequivocally normal. Eight patients had biochemical steatorrhea, but in 6 this was associated with intestinal bacterial overgrowth and a 7th had primary biliary cirrhosis. The remaining patient had no cause for steatorrhea other than marked pancreatic insufficiency which was demonstrated. Although pancreatic damage may contribute to malabsorption in systemic sclerosis, it apparently is less important than other factors such as intestinal bacterial overgrowth.