Spatial arrangement of the pancreatic ducts in the head of the pancreas with special reference to the branches of the uncinate process

Background. It remains very difficult to clarify the spatial arrangement of the branches of the pancreatic ducts in the head of the pancreas despite r ecent progress in diagnostic imaging techniques. Methods. We minutely dissected the head region from 15 cadavers after injec tion of silicone rubber into the ducts through the papilla of Vater to inve stigate the distribution of these ducts. Results. We found that the branches that drained the uncinate process not o nly joined the main pancreatic duct but also constantly joined the accessor y pancreatic duct. In addition, the branches of the uncinate process that j oined the accessory duct ran anterior to those to the main duct. We classif ied the arrangement of the pancreatic ducts into type 1 (10 cases) and type 2 (5 cases) on the basis of the pattern of the branches of the uncinate pr ocess. The distance from the papilla of Vater to the junction of the main a nd accessory pancreatic ducts in type 1 (>23.0 mm) was significantly longer than that in tyke 2 (<22.0 mm). Conclusions. Careful attention should be paid to the branches of the uncina te process to the accessory pancreatic duct to enable more accurate diagnos es of the pancreas head region.