Man's pancreas becomes calcified after drinking five shots of vodka every day for 15 YEARS
- 50 year-old man was vomiting blood, suffering abdominal pain and diarrhoea
- He presented himself to medics where he confessed his extreme drinking habits
- A subsequent scan showed evidence of him suffering from chronic pancreatitis
A 50-year-old man has suffered the consequences of having five vodka shots each day for the past 15 years.
The unidentified patient presented himself to doctors in Pennsylvania earlier this week after suffering from abdominal pain and diarrhoea for months.
But doctors, who conducted test after he began to vomit blood, discovered that he had actually developed chronic pancreatitis.
His excessive boozing had caused some of the cells in his organ to harden - known as calcifying - beyond repair, LiveScience reports.
Ouch: The man's pancreas was affected by hardened, white deposits from calcium build-up as a result of having five vodka shots every day for 15 years
In the case report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, scans showed the deposits.
Experts say the extreme nature of the patient's symptoms illustrate the dangers of uninterrupted alcohol consumption.
Dr Yub Raj Sedhai, the man who treated him at the Mercy Catholic Medical Center in Darby, added that while some calcium deposits are normal among heavy drinkers, such high quantities are incredibly rare.
He added that such calcification occurs because alcohol intake causes pancreatic cells to release a tissue-damaging enzyme, sparking inflammation.
His excessive boozing had caused some of the cells in his organ to harden - causing permanent damage to his pancreas
Calcium - which is naturally-present in the body - then gets trapped in the swollen areas and causes a blockage, which impairs the pancreas' function.
In this instance, the patient was given enzyme supplements to assist in the digestion of food and was forced to undertake addiction therapy.
According to the NHS, long-term alcohol misuse is responsible for around seven out of every 10 cases of chronic pancreatitis.
Less common causes include smoking, a problem with the immune system, causing it to attack the pancreas or an inherited genetic mutation disrupting the functions of the pancreas.
Chronic pancreatitis can affect people of any age, but is most common in middle-aged men aged between 45 and 54.
This comes after Johns Hopkins University researchers found last month that drinking to forget actually strengthens bad memories.
They found evidence that alcohol not only prevents you from forgetting bad memories but makes them stronger.
It does this by strengthening nerve cells connected to the brain's fear response center, they claimed.
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