Anatomy of Pancreas
Yuniarti
Anatomy department
Faculty of Medicine
UNISBA
Location of pancreas :
Pancreas is an elongated, accessory digestive gland that lies retroperitoneally
Transversely across the posterior abdominal wall posterior to the stomach between
duodenum on the right and the spleen on the left.
The pancreas produce :
• An exocrine secretion ( pancreatic juice from the acinar cells)
that enter the duodenum through the main and accessory
pancreatic ducts.
• Endocrine secretion (glucagon & insulin) from
the pancreatic islets (of langerhans) that enter blood.
Parts of pancreas :
• Head
• Neck
• Body
• Tail
HEAD
• The expanded part of the gland
that is embraced by the C shaped
curve of the duodenum to the right
of the superior mesenteric vessels.
• Firmly attaches to the medial
aspect of the descending and
horizontal parts of the duodenum.
• The head of the pancreas rests
posteriorly on the IVC
• On its way to opening into the
descending part of the duodenum,
the bile duct lies in a groove on the
posterosuperior surface of the
head or is embedded in its
substance.
NECK
•Short and overlies the
superior mesenteric vessels,
which form a groove in its
posterior aspect.
• The anterior surface of
neck, covered with
peritoneum, is adjacent to
the pylorus of the stomach.
BODY
• Continues from the neck and lies to the left of the superior mesenteric vessels,
passing over the aorta and L2 vertebra
• The posterior surface of the body is devoid of peritoneum and is in contact
with the aorta, SMA, left suprarenal gland and left kidney and renal vessels
TAIL
• Lies anterior to the left kidney,
where it is closely related to the
left kidney,where it is closely
related to the splenic hilum and
the left colic flexure.
• The tip of the tail is usually
blunted and turned superiorly.
The main pancreatic duct
• Begins in the tail of the pancreas and runs through the parenchyma of the gland
to the pancreatic head, here it turns inferiorly and is closely related to the bile duct.
• Most of the time, the main pancreatic duct and the bile duct unite to form the short,
dilated hepatopancreatic ampulla (of vater), which opens into the descending part
of the duodenum at the summit of the major duodenal papilla
Accessory pancreatic duct
• Opens into the duodenum at the summit of the minor duodenal papilla
•Usually (60%) communicates with the main pancreatic duct
•Smooth muscle sphincter that control the flow of bile &
pancreatic juice
into duodenum :
- Sphincter of the pancreatic duct
- Sphincter of the bile duct
- Sphincter of hepatopancreatic (sphincter of Oddi)
-The pancreatic arteries derive mainly from the branches of the splenic artery
-The anterior and posterior superior pancreaticoduodenal arteries, branches of the
gastroduodenal artery
-The anterior and posterior inferior pancreaticoduodenal arteries, branches of the
SMA
The pancreatic veins
The pancreatic lymphatic vessels follow the blood vessel. Most of them end in
the pancreaticosplenic nodes that lie along the splenic artery, but some
vessels end in the pyloric lymph nodes.
Efferent vessels from these nodes drain to the superior mesenteric lymph
nodes or to the celiac lymph nodes via the hepatic lymph nodes.
The nerves of the pancreas are derived from the vagus and abdominopelvic
splanchnic nerves.