Retrograde pancreatic venography: autopsy study.

Changes of the venous system in various pancreatic diseases were evaluated by retrograde pancreatic venographic studies done on 110 autopsy specimens of the pancreas. Fifty-one normal specimens exhibited well filled, regularly arranged veins. Postmortem autolysis (ten specimens) caused penetration of contrast medium into the parenchyma. Acute pancreatitis (six specimens) was associated with hypervascularity and venous irregularity. Chronic pancreatitis was associated with unevenly distributed venous deformities. Pseudocysts caused avascular foci which displaced adjacent vessels. Seven pancreatic cancers produced irregular encasement and occlusion of pancreatic and peripancreatic veins with thrombosis of major portal trunks-changes differing substantially from those caused by other diseases. Periancreatic cancer invading the pancreas caused encasement of superficial and occasionally deep pancreatic vessels. Acute leukemic infiltration demonstrated extreme deformity with complete structural disorder of intrapancreatic branches. Retrograde pancreatic venography, if used clinically, would enable radiographic diagnosis of the most common diseases of the pancrease.