HISTOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE DISTAL PANCREAS IN PANCREATIC HEAD CANCER

To clarify the histological status of the pancreas tail after pancreat oduodenectomy (PD), fibrosis, islets of Langerhans, and A, B, and D ce lls were examined histometrically in surgical cases of pancreatic canc er, The same investigations were also performed during an autopsy exam ination of the pancreas tail of survivors of surgery who had received either PD or total pancreatectomy with segmental autotransplantation ( SAT), In the surgical cases, fibrosis and the islet percentage compare d with nonpancreatic cancer cases were significantly higher while the B cell ratio was significantly lower, In addition, in pancreatic cance r patients, tile fibrosis and islet ratio inn the group with a blocked pancreatic duct were higher while the B cell ratio was lower than in the group with an open pancreatic duct, A direct relationship between the islet ratio and the degree of fibrosis, and an inverse relay tions hip between the B cell ratio and the degree of fibrosis, were thus fou nd, From the autopsy cases, the fibrosis progressed and the islet rati o increased following PD, but after SAT only the islet ratio increased compared to the time of surgery, The progression of fibrosis after PD thus suggests the presence of some problems in both the surgical meth od and postoperative management.