Abnormal pancreatic duct morphology

What it means

Any structural anomaly of the pancreatic duct, which is the tubular structure that collects exocrine pancreatic secretions and transports them to the duodenum.

The pancreas develops from dorsal and ventral buds that first appear in the fifth gestational week as outgrowths of the primitive foregut. By the seventh gestational week, expansion of the duodenum causes the ventral bud to rotate and pass behind the duodenum from right to left and fuse with the dorsal bud. The ventral bud forms the posterior head and uncinate process, whereas the dorsal bud forms the anterior head, body, and tail. Following this fusion, the ductal systems anastomose, a complicated process with a wide spectrum of possible outcomes. The portion of the ventral duct between the dorsal-ventral fusion and major papilla is termed the duct of Wirsung. The portion of the dorsal duct upstream to the dorsalventral fusion point is called the main pancreatic duct. The segment of the dorsal duct downstream to the dorsal-ventral fusion point is termed the duct of Santorini, or accessory pancreatic duct, which drains at the papilla minor [PMID:242655659].

Rare diseases that can present with this4

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category