Postmortem pancreatic angiography in 45 subjects with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and 51 controls.

Abstract

We evaluated, from 96 postmortem angiographs, the main feeding arteries and degree of vascularity of the pancreas to discover to what extent atherosclerosis affects pancreatic blood supply in subjects with and without non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). Patients with NIDDM more often showed intrapancreatic arteries with irregularities in the body-tail of the pancreas (p = 0.050) and more frequently demonstrated decreased vascularity in both the body-tail and the head of the pancreas (p < 0.001) than did the controls. When the arterial system from the aorta to the intrapancreatic branches was examined as a whole, 26 (58%) of the NIDDM patients and 10 (20%) of the controls (p = 0.0001) showed one or more of the following: >50% stenosis in the celiac or splenic artery, two or more irregular intrapancreatic branches, or a distinctly decreased degree of vascularity in the body-tail portion of the pancreas, the region responsible for most insulin secretion. Only 1 NIDDM patient, compared to 10 controls, showed a totally normal angiogram. In conclusion, vascular disease in the feeding arteries of the pancreas is more common in NIDDM patients than age- and gender-matched controls.