Anatomopathologic pictures of chronic pancreatitis
Morphology of pancreas (either esocrine, either endocrine) was studied in 29 cases of surgically treated chronic pancreatitis (27 cases of chronic calcifying pancreatitis and 2 cases of chronic obstructive pancreatitis). Parenchymal sclerosis in chronic calcifying pancreatitis (CCP) which represents the goal of our study was graded as mild (10 cases), moderate (10) and severe (7). Immunoperoxidase staining (PAP method) for insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, pancreatic polipeptide (PP), vasoactive intestinal polipeptide (VIP) and gastrin, was used to investigate endocrine pancreas. Acinar sclerosis and endocrine damage were closely related. Progression of sclerosis into islet appears to follow vascular pedicles producing a fragmentation into small cell groups as final result. In all cases of moderate or severe sclerosis, A/B cell ratio was increased due to the reduction of insulin positive cells. "Adenoma-like complexes", i.e., apparent concentration of islets, resulting from the loss of the acinar component, were observed in 7 cases with moderate or severe sclerosis. Nesidioblastosis was a prominent feature in all cases but one, with a positivity for insulin in 11 cases, for glucagon in 13, for somatostatin in 6 and for PP in 17. No positivity for gastrin was observed, while VIP was detected in a few ganglia. An increased amount of PP cells in islet and budding from the ducts was noticed and their presence outside the pancreatic head was demonstrable in 4 out of the 7 distal pancreatectomy specimens. Our data confirm the secondary involvement of the endocrine pancreas in the sclerotic acinar process.