Studies on the computed tomography of the pancreas in patients of liver cirrhosis.

Computed tomography (CT) of the pancreas shows specific images in cases of pancreatitis or malignant tumors. However. precise a nalysis of CT images of the pancreas in other diseases or in normal individuals has not been made. After an extensive study on the pancreatic CT images of patients without liver cirrhosis. gall stones. diahetes mellitus. malignant tumors or pancreatitis. we reponed that CT images of the outer margin or of the content of the pancreas can be divided into three types: smooth. fine-granule. and rough-granule. Since the CT values of the area surrounding rough granules were the same as those of fat. we concluded that the rough-granule type pancreas was rich in fat. Wealso reported that the incidence of the pancreas having rough-granule type content was low in lean individuals and high in obese ones. In the present study. CT images of the pancreas in patients with liver cirrhosis were analysed according to our classification with special references to clinical features: the following results were obtained: I) The incidence of the pancreas having a rough-granule type margin was higher than that in the conlrol patients (p<O.05). 2) No significant differences were observed in the incidence of rough-granule lype pancreas between lean patients and obese ones. 3) In the patients with rough-granule type pancreas. the blood glucose levels two hours after meal were higher than those in the patients with the other types of pancreas. 4) The incidence of rough-granule type pancreas in patients of liver cirrhosis with asciles was significantly lower than that of the rough-granule lype pancreas in patients without ascites.