Gallbladder cancer with double pancreatic ducts--a case report

Various forms of anomalous pancreatic ducts may be encountered. We treated a patient with very rare courses of pancreatic ducts associated with gallbladder cancer. The patient, a 65-year-old female, attended our hospital with epigastric pain and general malaise. Abdominal sonography and a CT scan led to the diagnosis of gallbladder cancer. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography revealed two main pancreatic ducts that followed a parallel course and joined the end of the common bile duct to form a common duct. The common duct opened at the ampulla of Vater. Thus, duplicated ducts of Wirsung served as the main pancreatic ducts, with no duct of Santorini. The embryonal mechanism and the clinical significance of double pancreatic ducts remains unknown, and our case is very rare.