Study of the ductal pattern of pancreas in 50 specimens

INTRODUCTION: Pancreas is a Compound racemose gland, analogous in its structure to the salivary glands, though softer and less compactly arranged than the above organs. It is composed of two quite separate types of glandular tissue which are however in intimate topographic association with each other. The main mass of the tissue is exocrine part of pancreas embedded in which clusters of endocrine cells constituting the Pancreatic Islets. Ductal pattern of Pancreas is important because of its implications in various fields of Medicine. It is an interesting topic for the Anatomists because most of the clinically important variations will be clearly analyzed by them under Embryological basis. AIM OF THE STUDY: 1. Ductual pattern of pancreas. 2. Retro Pancreatic Positioning of bile duct. 3. Pancreatico biliary ductal union. The study was conducted in 50 specimens of both sexes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: MATERIALS: 50 adult pancreas specimens were taken for the study. 20 specimens were collected from the cadavers in the Institute of Anatomy, Madurai Medical College. 30 specimens were collected from the Department of Forensic Medicine, Madurai Medical College, Madurai. Specimens were collected from the cadavers in the dissection table. Pancreas was removed along with the duodenum and retropancreatic part of the bile duct. Specimens collected from Forensic Medicine Department were cleaned in tap water and were put in 10% Formalin solution and were taken for dissection. METHODS: 1. Routine dissection of the Specimens to see the pattern of pancreatic ducts and mode of their opening into the 2nd part of duodenum. 2. Injection of air into the pancreatic duct in underwater dissection method to study the patency of the ducts. 3. Measurement of the distance between the major and minor duodenal papillae. 4. Measurement of the length of the common pancreatico-biliary channel. CONCLUSION: The present study included postmortem specimens too. From the study the following conclusions arrived. 1. The main pancreatic duct was commencing in the tail end of the organ and lying in the posterior surface close to the superior border in all the specimens. 2. Forty seven specimens showed the duct of wirsung as the main route of drainage and the duct of santorini in three specimens. This shows that surgical procedures in the proximal part of duodenum should be carried out carefully in order to avoid injury to the accessory duct, as sometimes it may be the chief outlet of exocrine pancreas. 3. The accessory duct was found to have a patent communication with duodenum in twelve specimens. 4. The average distance between major and minor duodenal papillae is 15mm. In fifteen cases it is 15-20mm, in eight cases it is 10-15mm and in remaining twenty seven cases there is absence of minor papillae