Investigation of the Relationship between Fatty Pancreas and Cholecystectomy Using Noncontrast Computed Tomography

Fatty pancreas, which can be evaluated with radiological methods, is a frequently overlooked finding. The aim of this study was to use noncontrast computed tomography (CT) to evaluate whether there was a relationship between fatty pancreas and cholecystectomy, similar to the relationship between fatty liver and cholecystectomy, which has been previously shown in literature.

The study included 46 cases who underwent cholecystectomy and 74 age- and gender-matched control subjects. All the cases were scanned with noncontrast CT. Regions of interest were defined in the liver and pancreas, and density measurements were taken from four anatomic regions in the liver and three anatomic regions in the pancreas by two experienced radiologists in the same session with consensus. Cases in which the pancreas density was evaluated as <0.7 of the spleen density were accepted as quantitatively steatosis positive. In addition, visual evaluations were made, and anthropometric measurements were taken.

Density and ratio values measured at the level of the pancreas body were determined to be statistically significantly lower in the cholecystectomy group than in the control group (P = .045 and P = .025, respectively). In the visual evaluation of fatty pancreas, the frequency 27 of 46 (50.7%) in the cholecystectomy group was statistically significantly higher than that of the control group at 27 of 74 (36.5%) (P = .017). Although the quantitative assessment showed that pancreatic steatosis frequency was higher in the cholecystectomy group, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups (P = .543).

Using CT in the present study, higher rates of fatty liver and fatty pancreas were determined in cholecystectomy cases than in the normal population. Longitudinal studies of an extensive population will be able to better evaluate the relationship between cholecystectomy and fatty pancreas.