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Anatomy of the Pancreas

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So, pancreas is a retroperitoneal organ.

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It doesn't have the capsule, and it demonstrates

0:06

some of the lobulation in the outline.

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Pancreas measures about 6 to 8 centimeters

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in length, and measures about

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3 centimeters at the head, 2 centimeters at

0:16

the body, and 1 centimeter at the tail.

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It is situated just anterior to

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the SMV (Superior mesenteric vein) and SMA (Superior mesenteric artery), and we can broadly

0:24

divide pancreas into different parts.

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Head, which contains the uncinate process,

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which is behind the SMV and SMA.

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And the neck, which is anterior to the SMA,

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and SMV, the body of the pancreas, which is

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behind the lesser sac or the stomach,

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and the tail of the pancreas, which is within the

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splenic hilum or the gastrosplenic ligament.

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Pancreas contains two different kinds of cells.

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One is exocrine and the second is endocrine.

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Exocrine cells secrete some of the enzymes.

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Those are directly secreted into the

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pancreatic duct and it goes to the duodenum.

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It helps in digestion.

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And endocrine cells secretes

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different kinds of hormones,

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like insulin, or glucagon, or somatostatin.

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Those are secreted into the blood, and it goes to

1:08

the bloodstream, and act like hormones,

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and act on different organs throughout the body.

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So pancreas can lead to different kinds of

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pathologies, which are neoplasm, or cystic

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lesions, or pancreatitis, and we are going to deal

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with them one by one, but we need to understand

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that origin of the cells is exocrine or endocrine.

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So, as I said earlier, 95% of the exocrine

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cells are acinar cells, and they form the enzymes

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into the duodenum, and, and

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5% exocrine cells are islet cells of Langerhans.

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And they lead to bloodstream hormone.

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And pancreatic duct measures about 2-3 mm in size.

1:45

And the size of the pancreatic duct actually

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gradually increases as we move towards the head.

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So it is possible that you see the size of the

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pancreatic duct in the tail, which is smaller,

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but it becomes larger in the pancreatic head.

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And none of the patients should have more than

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5 mm of pancreatic duct, whatever the age is.

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So in the elderly patient, the duct

2:01

can measure about 5 mm, for example.

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But for the adult patient, a young

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patient, it can be just 3 mm.

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But none of the patients

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should have more than 5 mm.

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That is very important to understand

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because if it is beyond 5 mm, it can

2:14

represent a pathology underlying.

Report

Faculty

Neeraj Lalwani, MD, FSAR, DABR

Professor and Chief of Abdominal Radiology

Montefiore Medical Center, New York

Tags

Vascular

Pancreas

Non-infectious Inflammatory

Neoplastic

MRI

Infectious

Idiopathic

Iatrogenic

CT

Body

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