CORRELATION BETWEEN GENDER AND THE ANTERO-POSTERIOR DIAMETER OF NORMAL PANCREATIC HEAD

Background: Pancreatic carcinoma involving the head, accounts for most cases of extra hepatic obstruction of the hepato-biliary system and usually go undetected in its early stage. Also, reports show that gender is an independent risk factor for severity of gastrointestinal and non-gastrointestinal diseases and many of these diseases including cases of pancreatic carcinoma, show a gender bias, hence the rationale for the study. Objective: To assess the relationship between the Antero-Posterior (AP) diameter of the pancreatic head and gender using Contrast Enhanced Computed Tomography (CECT) scan. Methods: Eighty (80) apparently normal computed tomography (CT) scan images of 41(51.25 %) male and 39 (48.75 %) female subjects were retrospectively, and prospectively, evaluated with their ages which ranged from 19 to 70 years, obtained from Image Diagnostics and the Georges Diagnostic Centres, both in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria for a period of eight months (January - August, 2016). Results: The mean AP diameter of the pancreatic head in the study population was found to be 2.6 ± 0.3 cm. This result was however, smaller in the males (2.60 ± 0.3 cm) compared to the females (2.70 ± 0.3 cm) in the study population. A weak negative correlation (r = -0.327) was observed between pancreatic head AP diameter and gender (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Results obtained from the present study showed no significant relationship between the AP diameter of the pancreatic head and gender in the study population.