Pancreas in situ (English)

The pancreas is an elongated organ which lies mainly retroperitoneally across the posteriorabdominal wall. It can be divided into five anatomical parts: head, neck, body, tail and uncinate process. The descending and horizontal parts of the C-shaped duodenum wrap around the pancreatic head. The aorta, superior mesenteric artery, left renal vessels, left kidney, and left suprarenal gland are situated posterior to the pancreatic body. The tail is the last part of the pancreas and lies intraperitoneally. It is situated in close proximity to the hilum of the spleen and runs with the splenic vessels in the splenorenal ligament.