Pancreas Divided Gland (Pancreas Divisum)

Divided Pancreas (Pancreas Divisum) is a congenital developmental anomaly that leads to the division of the pancreas into two parts, each of which has its own separate duct that opens into the duodenum. One of them, the small ventral pancreas, is connected to the duodenum through the main duct, which flows into the lumen of the descending part of the duodenum at the top of its major papilla, and the other, the large dorsal pancreas, through the auxiliary duct. In rare cases, a person with this developmental anomaly may experience intermittent abdominal pain; perhaps they are caused by inadequate drainage of the contents of the dorsal pancreas. The diagnosis of this anomaly is made using ERCP.

Divided pancreas (Pancreas divisum) is a congenital anomaly in which the pancreas is divided into two parts. Each part has its own duct, which opens into the duodenum.

One of the parts of the gland is the ventral pancreas, which connects to the duodenum through the main duct, which flows into the lumen of the descending part of the intestine. The other part is the dorsal pancreas, which connects to the duodenum through the accessory duct.

In rare cases, people with this anomaly may experience intermittent abdominal pain associated with inadequate drainage of the contents of the dorsal pancreas.

Diagnosis of this anomaly can be made using endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP).

Treatment is not required in most cases, but in some cases surgery may be required to improve drainage of pancreatic contents.

A divided pancreas is a congenital pathology that occurs already during intrauterine development and cannot be corrected in the fetus. The pathology manifests itself in the form of division of the gland of the pancreatic body and its further division into another gland with the subsequent formation of an “isthmus”, which prevents the connection of the formations. The pathology is detected accidentally during an ultrasound examination and requires absolutely accurate diagnosis to select the correct treatment tactics. Early diagnosis is the main component of success in treating this disease. You should know that, according to a number of authors, using multislice computed tomography (MSCT), the diagnosis rate of PANCREAS DIVISUM reaches 97%, which means that almost all adults who are suspected of this pathology are its owners. In this case, it does not matter at all what the patient’s age is or what the complaint card looks like. So