Laparoscopic Distal Pancreatectomy
For most people the pancreas is one of those organs little understood or even noticed, until something goes wrong. It’s a relatively small organ, about the size and shape of a hot-dog bun, nested in a curve of the upper intestine and surrounded by the stomach, spleen, kidneys and intestines. The pancreas has three anatomical regions: the head, which is the portion closest to the upper intestine and contains the main pancreatic duct into the duodenum, the body or middle section of the pancreas, and the tail portion adjacent to the spleen.
Within the pancreas, the two functions, endocrine and exocrine, have their own tissues. About a million islets of Langerhans produce the endocrine hormones, which enter the blood stream through a dense network of tiny blood vessels (capillaries). Acinar cells produce many of the enzymes of the exocrine system, which flow to the duodenum through a network of ducts. The tissues of these two systems exists side-by-side but unconnected, which can complicate surgery.
We eat and drink primarily to acquire energy and water, secondarily to maintain levels of vitamins, minerals, proteins and other nutrients. In the broad picture, the pancreas is a key part of a very complicated feedback system that monitors the levels of blood sugar (energy source) and the composition of what we eat to regulate hunger, thirst, and the process of digestion. It’s a relatively robust system that most of the time manages to keep us alive and healthy, but it’s not invulnerable.
Long-term lifestyle patterns affect the pancreas and all the organs of the digestive system. Among other things, continual overeating, eating too much of certain foods (fats, sugars), smoking and consumption of alcohol strain the system. In a variety of ways, the pancreas sometimes reacts to the strain by developing serious medical conditions.