CT Pancreas Pathologies - Video Lesson

Hey everybody, welcome back. In this lesson we're discussing the two most common pathologies of the pancreas that are evaluated with CT imaging. We'll start with acute pancreatitis. Acute pancreatitis is an acute inflammatory condition of the pancreas, often caused by gallstones. The term acute means that the inflammation comes on suddenly and intensely. It's not a condition that develops slowly over a long period of time. Acute pancreatitis occurs when the digestive pancreatic enzymes become active inside of the pancreas. In acute pancreatitis, these enzymes may also be leaking out of the pancreas into the abdominal cavity. This causes intense inflammation and significant pain for the patient. Sometimes this happens because the pancreatic duct is clogged by gallstones, but not always. Sometimes there's no obvious reason that this is happening. It typically presents as an enlarged pancreas with poorly defined pancreatic margins and surrounding fat