The Fate of Heterotopic Pancreatic Tissue

A series of 212 cases of pancreatic heterotopia has been analyzed in order to ascertain the frequency of this congenital anomaly and to determine the cause of significant clinical symptoms. In the period from 1952 through 1971, 212 cases of heterotopic pancreas were seen at the Mayo Clinic. A firm causal relationship to symptoms was difficult to establish. Obscure gastrointestinal tract bleeding; often attributed to this lesion, was rarely associated with ulceration or necrosis when the lesion was excised and examined microscopically. When heterotopic pancreas was discovered at operation, however, excision was a safe and warranted procedure. Confusion with lesions such as small myomas and carcinoids was thus eliminated and a further diligent search could be pursued for the cause of persistence of symptoms originally attributed to the heterotopia.