This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Morphology

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Morphological patterns commonly seen in chronic pancreatitis include:

  • chronic calcifying pancreatitis - an irregular, lobular, spotty distribution of calcification within the pancreatic parenchyma. The acini are atrophic with increased interlobular fibrous tissue. Pseudocyst formation is common. This pattern is usually seen in alcoholics.

  • chronic obstructive pancreatitis - with inflammation of varying severity to the left of the obstruction and normal or near normal pancreas to the right. Calcification is rare and protein plugs are uncommon. The changes are more prominent in the head of the pancreas. This pattern is usually seen in cases associated with congenital anomalies or previous acute inflammation.

  • minimal change - changes are microscopic, in the acinar architecture, rather than macroscopically. Usually follows an attack of proven acute pancreatitis.

  • phlegmon

  • pseudocyst

  • abscess

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.