Gross dissection and immunohistochemical studies on branch fusion type of ventral and dorsal pancreatic ducts: a case report.

A case of fusion via two inferior branches between the ventral and dorsal pancreatic ducts was studied both macroscopically and immunohistochemically, based on the organogenesis of the pancreas. Radiologically, the branch fusion seemed to be composed of an inferior branch of the ventral pancreatic duct and an inferior branch of the dorsal pancreatic duct. By mapping pancreatic polypeptide cells in the material obtained by pancreatoduodenectomy, however, the branch was identified as a branch of the dorsal pancreatic duct. Thus, fusion between two inferior branches was not established, but was found to consist of an inferior branch of the dorsal pancreatic duct connected with the ventral pancreatic duct. We therefore challenge the concept of the ansa pancreatica.