Pancreatic duct variations are usually diagnosed incidentally, in particular when using magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP), the most accurate imaging modality for depicting the pancreatic ductal system. However, the frequency and the embryologic development of pancreatic variants have not been well investigated. The purpose of this prospective study was to investigate the frequency of pancreatic ductal variants, providing potential explanations of their embryologic basis. The pancreatic ductal anatomies of 202 patients with mean ± standard deviation (SD) age of 54 ± 27 years, 56% females, who underwent MRCP for different indications between April 2018 and March 2019, were prospectively collected. Normal pancreatic ductal variants were identified in 196 cases (97%), and variants of pancreas divisum in six cases (3%). In the type C variant of the normal pancreatic anatomy, found in 3% of the cases, the dorsal duct was joined to the ventral duct while the accessory duct did not communicate with the dorsal duct. Unlike the classic type C variant, in our cases, the accessory pancreatic duct (APD) was long (mean ± SD of 58 ± 8.5 mm) and originated in the lower portion of the pancreatic head, caudally to the duct of Wirsung. This was a new subtype of the type C variant or a new variant, which could be called "pancreas divisum inversus"; the APD could be called the isolated duct of Santorini. Reporting this new variant could increase knowledge regarding the pancreatic anatomy in order to avoid misdiagnosis and to help in better understanding pancreatic diseases and their relative treatment. Clin. Anat., 33:646-652, 2020. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Keywords: ERCP; MRCP; anatomy; anomaly; pancreas; pancreas Divisum; variation.
© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.