Anatomic variations of the pancreatic duct and their relevance with the Cambridge classification system: MRCP findings of 1158 consecutive patients

Abstract

Vertical course (p = 0.004) and Type 2 (p = 0.03) configuration of pancreatic duct were more frequent in females than males. There were no statistically significant differences between the gender for the other pancreatic duct variations such as <i>pancreas divisium, ansa pancreatica</i> and course types other than vertical course (p > 0.05 for all). Variants of <i>pancreas divisum</i> and normal pancreatic duct variants were not associated with morphologic findings of chronic pancreatitis by using the Cambridge classification system. The <i>ansa pancreatica</i> is a rare type of anatomical variation of the pancreatic duct, which might be considered as a predisposing factor to the onset of idiopathic pancreatitis.