Pancreas - Parasitic Pathology

Image of chronic parasitic(Eurytrema spp.) pancreatitis with fibrosis and atrophy in a cat from Cornell Veterinary Medicine

Image of chronic parasitic granulomas caused by Strongylus equinus from Cornell Veterinary Medicine

• Parasites become important if they occlude the pancreatic duct directly or induce inflammation
• Commonly caused by flukes of families Opisthorchidae and Dicrocoelidae when present in large numbers and overspill from the billiary tract
• Nematodes, particularly ascarids, and cestodes occasionally lodge within pancreatic ducts
• In pigs, Stephanurus dentatus can form cysts in the pancreas after migration through the liver
• Parasites tend to cause chronic interstitial pancreatitis
• Tend to destroy acinar tissue, islets of Langerhans being unaffected

Healing of pancreas - general pathology