Alcohol and the pancreas. I. Clinical associations and histopathology of minimal pancreatic inflammation.

Fat accumulation within pancreatic acinar cells was observed by examination in patients consuming more than 30 gm./day of ethanol. Ultrastructural changes within the cell are described in these alcoholics without clinical pancreatitis, changes which are similar to those seen in the hepatocytes of alcoholics. The mechanisms which induce these ultrastructural changes and accumulation of fat in the pancreatic acinar cell are not apparent at present. A toxic metabolic mechanism is an attractive hypothesis for these effects.