Laparoscopic Treatment of Annular Pancreas

Felipe Victer, MD, FACS

Product Details
Product ID: ACS-6151
Year Produced: 2020
Length: 8 min.


Annular pancreas is a rare congenital abnormality characterized by a ring of pancreatic tissue surrounding the descending portion of the duodenum. It is thought to originate from incomplete rotation of the ventral pancreatic around the duodenum, causing envelopment of duodenum. Its prevalence ranges from 5 to 15 per 100,000 adults and has been associated with maternal polyhydramnios and congenital abnormalities such as Down syndrome, esophageal and duodenal atresia, imperforate anus, and Meckel's diverticulum. Obstructive gastrointestinal symptoms result from duodenal obstruction due to scarring from repeated pancreatic inflammation or from peptic ulcer disease. Obstruction of the intrapancreatic portion of the common bile duct due to edema and fibrosis of the pancreatic head can result in obstructive jaundice. Most adults present with symptoms between 20 and 50 years-old, usually chronic abdominal pain, nausea, postprandial fullness, and vomiting. Abdominal CT scan findings include descending duodenal narrowing and ring of pancreatic tissue encircling duodenum. The treatment of symptomatic, obstructing annular pancreas has classically been surgical. The preferred treatment is a bypass operation such as gastro or duodenojejunostomy, but some cases were treated by division of the annulus with transverse duodenoplasty, duodenoduodenostomy, or Whipple's procedure in extreme cases, depending on the case and the intraoperative findings. In this case-report, we described a 68-year-old patient with postprandial fullness, nausea, vomit, abdominal pain and weight loss. Upper GI series showed descending duodenum stenosis, and abdominal CT demonstrated duodenum narrowing with pancreatic tissue around. Laparoscopic section of the annulus was performed with complete recovery and symptoms remission.