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Anatomy and Embryology of the Pancreatic Gland

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Textbook of Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract

An essential part of the gastrointestinal tract is the pancreas, a gland which is both exocrine and endocrine and which is located retroperitoneally dorsal to the omental bursa. Anatomically, a head, neck, body, and tail are distinguished, but physiologically, the main part of the endocrine islets is in the pancreatic tail.

Presumably, Herophilos of Chalcedon—also called the “Father of Anatomy”—around 300 BC, first described the pancreas. Despite the prevailing opinion that everything about this organ has already been described, the more molecular genetic processes during human embryonic development are still unexplained—especially the role of the HOX-genes—and also their importance for the development of diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, obesity etc., or for the development of tumours. These are all questions that will continue to challenge us in the years and decades to come or should be the basis for further research projects.

This chapter is intended to provide an overview of the accurate macroscopic and topographical anatomy and insights into the embryology available to date.

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Author notes

  1. All authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Province of Salzburg, Regional Public Health Directorate, Salzburg, Austria

    Romana Urbas

  2. Institute of Pathology, Cancer Cluster Salzburg, Paracelsus Medical University/Salzburger Landeskliniken (PMU/SALK), Salzburg, Austria

    Eckhard Klieser & Daniel Neureiter

  3. Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Institute for Clinical and Functional Anatomy, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Erich Brenner

Authors
  1. Romana Urbas
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  2. Eckhard Klieser
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  3. Daniel Neureiter
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  4. Erich Brenner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Romana Urbas .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Stavanger University Hospital, The University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Kjetil Søreide

  2. Chirurgie (VTT), Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Tirol, Austria

    Stefan Stättner

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Urbas, R., Klieser, E., Neureiter, D., Brenner, E. (2021). Anatomy and Embryology of the Pancreatic Gland. In: Søreide, K., Stättner, S. (eds) Textbook of Pancreatic Cancer. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53786-9_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53786-9_11

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-53786-9

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