Parotid saliva tests in patients with pancreatic diseases before and after surgery.

Two patients with pancreatic cyst were treated by cystojejunostomy, two others with pancreaticolithiasis by pancreaticojejunostomy (side to side), and pancreato-duodenectomy was done in one patient with cancer of the duodenal papilla and in one patient with cancer of the intrapancreatic bile duct. All these patients made uneventful recovery. In all these cases, parotid gland function was found depressed. After the operation, four patients showed normal parotid gland function and in one patient it was abnormally elevated. Thus, as previously reported in animal experiments, the parotid gland function was presumed to return to normal or to be elevated in parallel with the improvement of the pancreatic function or lesions.