[The internal echo pattern of the normal pancreas. An assessment of the aging process and body weight dependence by sonographic gray-scale analysis].

Sonography of the pancreas was evaluated quantitatively in 94 normal subjects. The grey-scale values in the head and body of the pancreas were measured and compared with those of retroperitoneal fat. The echogenicity of the pancreas and the contrast between pancreas and fat were correlated with the age and weight of the subjects. Semi-quantitative studies revealed a positive correlation between echogenicity and age (r = 0.505); this can be confirmed to a high degree of statistical significance by quantitative analysis of pancreatic grey-scale values (r = 0.55 for the head and 0.71 for the body). Further improved correlation with age is obtained by computing the sonographic contrast between the pancreas and the retroperitoneal fat (r = 0.66 for the head and 0.77 for the body of the pancreas). It is concluded that determination of the grey-scale value can provide additional information particularly if one uses retroperitoneal fat as a reference tissue.