Abstract
Background: The pancreas is an insulin-secreting gland and is prone to varying degrees of destruction and change in patients with Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Various morphological changes including reduction in the pancreas size have been described in DM. Real time sonography can assess the gland in most of cases and it is accurate in diagnosis of pancreatic disorders.
Aim of Study: To evaluate the pancreatic size in type II Egyptian diabetic patients.
Patients and Methods: Comparative cross-sectional study was carried out on 120 subjects over a 6 month period in Tanta University Hospitals to evaluate the ultra sonographic size of the pancreas and both the duration of the disease and type of treatment in type II Egyptian diabetic patients. Group (A): 100 patients with type II diabetes mellitus. Group (B): 20 non-diabetic patients (healthy controls). We excluded patients of type I diabetes mellitus and patients with known or possible history of pancreatic diseases such as pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis, autoimmune disorders, pancreatic tumors, and chronic alcohol consumption. Complete clinical examination, routine laboratory investigations and specific investigation including. HbA1 c and Pelvi-abdominal ultrasonography were done. Sonographic measurements of the size of the pancreatic head, body, and tail of both study groups were performed.
Results: There is a significant difference between diabetic group and control group as regard to head (cm), body (cm) and tail (cm), p-value (0.001, 0.001 and 0.001). There are pancreatic head, body and tail size decrease more significantly in the group on oral hypoglycemic drugs than the group receiving oral hypoglycemic drugs plus insulin p-value (0.001, 0.001, 0.037). There is a negative significant correlation between duration and pancreatic head, body and tail size in diabetic group, p-value (0.001, 0.001, 0.001).
Conclusion: From the results of the present study, we can conclude that the pancreas size of diabetic patients is signif-icantly smaller than those of normal control group. We also concluded that in type II diabetes longer duration of illness was associated with smaller pancreas head, body and tail size. The pancreatic head, body and tail size decrease more significantly in the group on oral hypoglycemic drugs than the group receiving oral hypoglycemic drugs plus insulin.