CONTEXT There is limited experience with pancreatic endotherapy in patients with pancreatic injury due to trauma. OBJECTIVE To retrospectively evaluate our experience of endoscopic management of pancreatic trauma. PATIENTS Eleven patients (10 males and 1 female; mean age: 21.8±11.9 years) with pancreatic trauma. INTERVENTION Endoscopic therapy. Patients with pseudocyst and a gastroduodena...

CONTEXT Pancreatitis is the most frequent complication of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. Controversy exists whether low osmolarity non-ionic contrast agents lessen the rate of pancreatitis and pancreatic injury. To evaluate we used a canine model to compare pancreatography performed with ionic and non-ionic contrast. DESIGN Dogs were anesthetized and underwent open transduode...

Reactive oxygen species are considered important regulators in the pathogenesis and in the development of pancreatitis. The transcription factor nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) is activated by reactive oxygen species and regulates the gene expressions of inflammatory cytokines. The present study investigates (1) the susceptibility of isolated rat pancreatic acinar cells to oxidant attacks pro...

BACKGROUND Pancreatic infiltration by leucocytes represents a hallmark in acute pancreatitis. Although leucocytes play an active role in the pathophysiology of this disease, the relation between leucocyte activation, microvascular injury and haemorrhage has not been adequately addressed. METHODS We investigated intrapancreatic leucocyte migration, leucocyte extravasation and pancreatic microp...

Isolated pancreatic involvement is a rare initial presentation in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis. We report a patient with a suspected malignant pancreatic mass, referred to our hospital for pancreaticoduodenectomy. However, the pancreatic mass proved to be the initial manifestation of ANCA-associated vasculitis.

KEY POINTS Thyroid hormones are important regulators of growth and maturation before birth, although the extent to which their actions are mediated by insulin and the development of pancreatic beta cell mass is unknown. Hypothyroidism in fetal sheep induced by removal of the thyroid gland caused asymmetric organ growth, increased pancreatic beta cell mass and proliferation, and was associated w...

BACKGROUND Nutrient malabsorption frequently occurs in HIV infected children, but very few studies have investigated exocrine pancreatic digestive capacity in these cases. AIMS To investigate pancreatic function in HIV infected children and to determine whether faecal fat loss, a prominent feature of intestinal dysfunction, is associated with pancreatic dysfunction. PATIENTS Forty seven chi...

BACKGROUND Patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer have a high mortality rate relating to the highly malignant and refractory nature of their disease, and reputedly linked to the presence of cancerous pancreatic stem cells. These stem cells are believed to be deeply involved in distant metastasis. Therefore, the present study examined whether pancreatic cancer stem cells (CSCs) exhibit organ-...