[Changes of the pancreatic duct system associated with aging: their relations to parenchyma (author's transl)]

A postmortem study by ductography and histology was carried out in 50 macroscopically normal human pancreata. The alterations of the pancreatic duct system, their relations to the parenchyma, and their changes depending on age were studied. The most frequent changes of the ducts are epithelial hyperplasia (88%) and periductal fibrosis (74%). In the ducts they produce cystic widening (62%) and intraluminal protein precipitates (40%), within the parenchyma an intralobular fibrosis up to total fibrosis of lobules (88%). All these alterations increase with aging both in frequency and intensity. But they are already visible before the age of 50 and sometimes before the age of 30. The pathogenetic connexions between the changes of the duct system and the alterations of parenchyma were studied by serial sections and ceroplasty. This investigation revealed that the small branches of the larger ducts, which drain small periductally situated lobules, play an important role in the development of the parenchymal alterations. No connections were found between the pancreatic alterations and diseases of the bile duct system.