Pancreas Regeneration After Resection

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Abstract
Although pancreatic regeneration after partial resection or pancreatic injury (restitutio ad integrum) has been demonstrated in animal models, whether regeneration occurs in the human pancreas is unknown. Our aim was to determine whether the human pancreas regenerates after subtotal resection. We reviewed pre- and postoperative computerized tomograms (CTs) of 21 patients after proximal pancreatectomy (50-60% resection) for malignancy with no recurrent disease during follow-up of pancreatic parenchymal abnormalities. Three fixed anatomic measurements (pancreatic body width, tail width, and length) were compared with the same region 10 and 21 months after surgery. Data are expressed as mean +/- SEM. Pancreatic measurements before and 10 months after resection did not differ for body width (2.0+/-0.1 cm vs. 1.8+/-0.1 cm), tail width (2.2+/-0.2 cm vs. 1.8+/-0.2 cm) or length (8.2+/-0.3 vs. 7.4+/-0.4 cm) (p> or =0.1 each). At 21 months after resection, measurements were less for body width and tail width (2.2+/-0.2 cm vs. 1.5+/-0.2 cm and 2.2+/-0.1 cm vs. 1.5+/-0.2 cm, respectively; p = 0.01) and unchanged for length (8.1+/-0.4 cm vs. 8.1+/-0.4 cm; p = 0.9). We conclude that the human pancreas does not regenerate after partial anatomic (50%) resection.

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