PANCREATIC CALCULI WITH ASSOCIATED DIABETES MELLITUS

Although pancreatic calculi were discovered by Regnier de Graff in 1667, only a relatively few cases have been reported to the present. Haggard and Kirtley, reviewing the literature for a period of two hundred and seventy-one years, could find authentic records of but 204 cases. In this series operation was performed in 65 cases; 28 were cases in which a positive roentgenologic diagnosis was made and the remainder were discovered at autopsy. In 1944 Lionello, Ficarra and Ryan 2 compiled 18 more cases to bring the total to 232. Though the etiology of pancreatic calculi is as yet unknown, differentiation is made according to the location of the calcifications of the pancreas. True pancreatic calculi are found within the duct system, particularly the ducts of Wirsung and Santorini near the head of the pancreas, and are smooth, rounded and occasionally faceted. These stones, composed of calcium carbonate or tribasic calcium