Sonographic Assessment of Pancreatic Echogenicity in Normal Adults in South-South Nigeria

Background: The pancreas has a normal echogenicity that is comparable to or slightly higher than that of the liver. Fat accumulated around the pancreas determines pancreatic echogenicity, and ultrasound scan is a crucial diagnostic and screening tool for its assessment.

Objective: To determine the pancreatic echogenicity in normal adults, and their relationship with age, sex, height, weight and body mass index (BMI).

Subjects and Methods: This descriptive, cross‐sectional study was conducted in four health institutions in Bayelsa State, Nigeria from July, 2022 to February, 2023. Statistical Product and Service Solutions for Windows® version 25, SPSS Inc.; Chicago, USA was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentages) and analysis of variance were done. Chi-square statistics was used to examine the association between sex and echogenicity of the pancreas. The statistical significance was set at P<0.05.

Results: Most (303, 75.3%) of the participants had Grade I pancreatic echogenicity. There was positive correlation between pancreatic echogenicity and age, height, weight and body mass index. There was no significant relationship between pancreatic echogenicity and sex (X2 = 0.085; p = 0.771).

Conclusion: This study has established that pancreatic hyperechogenicity does not always suggest a pathology. Healthy males and females can have pancreatic hyperechogenicity without the presence of a medical condition.