IT IS COMMON knowledge that the pancreas may be involved in a number of infectious diseases, among which epidemic parotitis and scarlet fever are the best known. In addition to these, different conditions affecting the digestive tract, such as dysentery, typhoid, spirochetal jaundice, atrophy and infantile diarrhea, and recently uremia, have been reported to cause pancreatic lesions and dysfunction. However, the true nature of the lesions and the underlying morphologic changes still constitute a problem. According to some authors,1 these changes consist of hemorrhages and necrosis of the parenchyma. Degeneration of the parenchyma with ensuing fibrosis2 has also been described, as well as atrophy and disorganization of acini3 and acinar dilatation, leading to a picture similar to cystic fibrosis.4
When one considers the number of observations on surgical and autopsy material and the apparent contradictions in the findings, it is astonishing that data relating functional disturbances with