[The normal pancreas. Demonstration in the sonogram in relation to age].

For 191 patients without any clinically or anamnestically traceable disease of pancreas sonographic inspection was performed, a real time-equipment type Aloka, SSD 240 was used. The age of the patients, divided into 5 groups ranged from 15 to 90 years. The measurements of the pancreas sonographic inspection was performed, a real time-equipment type Aloka, SSD 240 was used. The age of the patients, divided into 5 groups ranged from 15 to 90 years. The measurements of the pancreas were established for head, neck, corpus and tail respectively. The following mean values for the thickness were found: Head: 2,41 +/- 0,41 cm; neck: 1,53 +/- 0,34 cm; corpus: 1,90 +/- 0,37 cm; tail: 1,67 +/- 0,37 cm. The width of the organ was in the area of the head: 1,3 to 3,5 cm, neck 1,0 to 2,7 cm, corpus 1,1 to 3,0 cm, tail 0,8 to 2,6 cm. A comparison between normal weight- and overweight-patients showed no significant differences at all. The echostructure of the pancreas showed a clear increase of intensity with progress in age. The reason for this more detailed echostructure is seen in an infiltration of fat as well as collagenous and fibrous elements. No change in organ size was found in this connection.