THE STUDY OF THE PANCREAS AND ITS INFLAMM ATORY DISEASES SINCE THE 16TH TO 19TH-CENTURY

The author describes the development of medical research since the 16t h century based on a literary review of the study of the anatomy, phys iology and pathology of the pancreas. The anatomical basis was first c reated in the 17th century when the pancreatic duct was discovered (J. C. Wirsung 1642) and the duodenal papilla was described (J.K. Brunner 1683, C.B. Holdefreund 1713 and A. Vater 1750). The physiological func tion of the pancreas as a secretary gland was first experimentally inv estigated by R. Graaf (1671). A few decades later the enzymatic breakd own of nutrients by pancreatic juice was demonstrated in animal experi ments (G. Valentin 1844, Cl. Bernard 1849). The earliest case reports of patients dying of suppurative inflammation or tumours of the pancre as were presented by S. Alberti (1578), J. Schenck (1600), and N. Tulp (1641). The presence of fatty necrosis in acute pancreatitis was firs t indicated by W. Balser (1882), and the autodigestive genesis was sus pected by H. Chiari (1896). The discovery in the 19th century that dia betes mellitus occurs in dogs following total pancreatectomy (J. von M ering and 0. Minkowski 1890) and the first operation on a pancreatic c yst by ''marsupialisation'' (C. Gussenbauer 1883) as well as the emerg ence of the connection between cholelithiasis and acute pancreatitis ( E.L. Opie and W. St. Halsted 1901) laid the foundation for 20th centur y research.