Three Cases of Annular Pancreas in Adults

Lee, Sung Joon; Chung, Moon Ki; Kim, Chang Duck; Lee, Hong Sik; Jeen, Yoon Tae; Moon, Jeong Seop; Park, Jong Jae; Song, Chi Wook; Ryu, Ho Sang; Um, Soon Ho; Choi, Jai Hyun; Hyun, Jin Hai

Abstract

An annular pancreas consists of a band or ring of pancreatic tissue which surrounds the second portion of the duodenum is a rare congenital anomaly which may cause duodenal obstruction or remain silent throughout life. In an adult, symptoms from annular pancreas usually present between the ages of 20-50yr as duodenal obstruction. Peptic ulcer disease and pancreatitis may be found in association with symptomatic adult annular pancreas. The preoperative diagnosis of annular pancreas is often difficult. Although an upper gastrointestinal series is considered the diagnostic test, recognition is not always easy preoperatively. Recently, with the increased use of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, patients with this anomaly were more frequently reported. In this report we describe two patients in whom the diagnosis of annular pancreas was clearly established by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and one patient of suspected annular pancreas which was confirmed by surgery.