Heterotopic pancreas: report of two cases

Heterotopic pancreas is a congenital anomaly defined as pancreatic tissue occurring outside its normal anatomical location, lacking both anatomic and vascular connections. Ninety percent of heterotopic pancreata are found in the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract and clinical presentations show differences.

We present two different cases of heterotopic pancreas. One of them was a 56-year-old man noted to have a mass in the proximal duodenum during elective cholecystectomy for cholelithiasis. The mass was excised locally and primary duodenal repair was carried out. The second case was a 41-year-old man admitted to our hospital with an intestinal obstruction caused by a jejunal heterotopic pancreas; he was operated on under emergency conditions. Both patients' postoperative periods were uneventful.

Resection of the heterotopic pancreas tissue-bearing area is advisable when the condition is encountered coincidentally at surgery, and surgical exploration should be done for all symptomatic patients, particularly in the absence of a histological diagnosis.