Establishing correlations between normal pancreatic and submandibular gland ducts

Abstract Background The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relationship between ductal morphometry and ramification patterns in the submandibular gland and pancreas in order to validate their common fractal dimension. Methods X-ray ductography with software-aided morphometry were obtained by injecting barium sulphate in the ducts of post-mortem submandibular gland and pancreas specimens harvested from 42 adult individuals. Results Three cases were excluded from the study because of underlying pathology. There was a significant correlation between the length of the main pancreatic duct (MPD) and the intraglandular portion of the right submandibular duct (SMD) (r = 0.3616; p = 0.028), and left SMD (r = 0.595; p 0.05). Both dimensions of the SMD showed a significant right-left correlation (p