The liver and pancreas in acute necrotising pancreatitis.

Abstract

Pancreatic fibrosis was found in 23 of 31 cases of acute necrotising and hemorrhagic pancreatitis; however, in the cases with a history of 6 days or less neither the extent nor the frequency of fibrosis differed significantly from those in controls. There was no histological evidence that duct or vascular lesions are necessary for the disease to occur. The liver was examined in 26 cases and showed cholestasis in 12, including 10 of 20 cases without a biliary etiology and only 2 of 6 cases with biliary tract disease. In no case did the liver show specific features of alcoholic damage.