[Characteristics of the topographic interrelation of the head of the pancreas and the duodenum and pathology of the organs of the pancreatoduodenal area].

Seventy pancreatoduodenal complexes of 55 patients with chronic pancreatitis and tumours of this zone and 15 patients died from other diseases are studies histotopographically . The pieces of the pancreatic head tissue in the medial wall of the duodenum were found in 12 cases of the first group and in 4 control cases. The pancreatic tissue consisted either of all elements of this organ or cystically dilated ducts and seemed to infiltrate different layers of the duodenum wall. Three variants of the pancreatic head structure are suggested on the basis of anatomo-topographical interrelationships of the pancreatic head and duodenum. In 12 out of 14 cases chronic pancreatitis and carcinoma of organs of this zone were combined with the variants of the pancreatic head structure, in 2 cases there was a true heterotopy . Pathogenetic significance of these variants for the development of chronic pancreatitis is discussed.