Re: What is SOD?--Shirley

[Guest guest]

There is no such thing as a dumb question. Please feel free to ask

anything you want. SOD stands for Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction. A

sphincter is just a round muscle. You have lots and lots all over

your body, from the muscle around your eye to your rectum.

The sphincter of Oddi is the small round muscle at the end of your

pancreas that attaches to the intestine at the duodenum. There is a

small vessel inside this sphincter called the Ampullae of Vater and

that little vessel connects to the pancreatic duct.

The dysfuntion of this muscle can cause a lot of trouble. It can

spasm causing pain and it can get way too tight and not allow the

enzymes to leave the pancreatic duct; causing the enzymes to back up

causing more pain. During an ERCP and other scopes the doctor can

perform a mesurement to check to see just how tight this sphincter

is. That is called manometry. A normal monometry is 15 or less

milliliters of mercury. Scar tissue can also delevop around and in

this little muscle from surgeries, treatments and from internal

damage.

During a scope the doctor can place a stent (a little ittybitty hose)

into the sphincter of oddi and the connecting ducts in hope that it

will stretch it out and keep it open. They can also cut it a little

bit in hope that it will relax the muscle some allowing the enzymes

to pass. This is called a sphincterotomy. More recently doctors

have been injecting Botox into the muscle in order to freeze it so to

speak to keep it from having spasms. There are also meds that people

can try to help relax this muscle, calcium channel blockers,

nitrates, anticholergenics to name a few.

I hope this helps Shirley and please dont be afraid to ask anything.

Warmly,

(SC)