Can I Get Disability Benefits For Pancreatic Cyst & Can You Die From It?

Pancreatic cysts are often found by chance when conducting an imaging test (like CT scan) for another issue that is they are incidental.⁽¹⁾

The prevalence of pancreatic cysts is about 2.5% and that this increases with age to 10% of persons above 70 years.⁽²⁾

Can I Get Disability Benefits For Pancreatic Cyst?

If the pancreatic cyst is of a smaller size such as less than 2- 3 cm then it will not produce any symptoms and do not carry a risk of morbidity. But sometimes the cyst becomes larger or it can be a pseudocyst that is carrying the digestive enzymes of the pancreas then it is a risk factor for life because it can rupture anytime and produce a lot of symptoms and increases the morbidity. These pancreatic cysts can also produce bouts of pancreatitis which is a characteristic of chronic pancreatitis and hence can be labeled as a disability.

But the first and foremost criteria of disability can be fulfilled by a pancreatic cyst in the cases where the pancreatic cyst turns into a neoplastic cyst because then it is labeled as pancreatic cancer such as in the case of mucinous cystic neoplasms. In this case, the patient will get all the benefits as mentioned in the social security disability benefits list because it will qualify the criteria of the social security disability benefits for pancreatic cancer as it is classified as A social disability.⁽³⁾

Can You Die From Pancreatic Cyst?

The pancreatic cyst can worsen the prognosis in many cases as in a few of the cases associated with pancreatic pseudocyst formation may lead to rupture of the pseudo sac and the enzymes and other contents get distributed in the surrounding tissue. It leads to digestion and destruction of tissue and starts a necrotizing and inflammatory process in the whole of the abdomen. It can go into the bloodstream via blood vessels that have been damaged and can produce a systemic inflammatory response of sepsis. It is a very grave condition with an extremely poor prognosis. The patient can go into a permanent state of coma and can even die with it. It can also affect the other organs of the abdomen leading to multiple organ dysfunction syndromes and it also has a similar effect and can easily cause mortality.⁽⁴⁾

In a few of the cases, the patient can directly experience the symptoms of necrosis of the pancreas because of the autodigestion occurring within the pancreas due to leaked pancreatic enzymes and there can be infections by various microaerophilic and anaerobic organisms such as pseudomonads, streptococcus, clostridium, etc. leading to widespread infection in the body and sepsis. It can also cause death and carries a very poor prognosis because necrosis and autodigestion of the pancreas cannot be controlled easily and are very difficult to cure.⁽⁵⁾

Various pancreatic cysts can turn into neoplasms such as mucinous cystic neoplasm etc. which are cancerous and also spread to other organs of the body via a process known as metastasis. Slowly it can lead to the growth of cancerous tissue in all of the body and can produce generalized symptoms of cancer. The patient may die due to multiple organ dysfunction because there is not much of a successive cure for pancreatic cancers.

Conclusion

A pancreatic cyst is not covered under social security disability benefits directly because these are mostly asymptomatic and do not require any further treatment. But in some cases, if the pancreatic cyst turns into a malignant neoplasm then it can be covered under social security disability benefits because it will fulfill the criteria of disability benefits laid for pancreatic cancer. A pancreatic cyst is usually not associated with mortality but it can cause death due to superadded problems.

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Can I Get Disability Benefits For Pancreatic Cyst & Can You Die From It?