Pancreatic Disease

Abstract

The pancreas is a retroperitoneal organ with both endocrine and exocrine functions. It was first described by a Greek physician Herophilus between 335 and 280 BC and was given its name by Ruphos only a few hundred years later. In 1642, Wirsung discovered the pancreatic duct and within three decades Graff investigated its secretory properties. Paul Langerhans described ‘islets of Langerhans’ in 1869 and the first description of pancreatitis as a disease was by Fitz in 1889. Halstead performed the first operation on the pancreas in 1898.