Slide 1

Gross:  This section is taken through an adenocarcinoma of the head of the pancreas.  The lesion is a firm, tan-white mass that effaces the normal lobular architecture of the pancreas.   Although this carcinoma is only about 2.5 cm in diameter, it has already  invaded into the wall of the duodenum (large arrow) and metastasized to regional lymph nodes (small arrows).

Slide 2

This is a low power view of the histologic slide in your class set.  This is a section taken through the head of the pancreas from a patient with a ductal type of adenocarcinoma.  The viable tumor is peripherally located around a central core of necrosis.  Immediately adjacent to the tumor, the pancreas shows chronic  pancreatitis (arrow).  One normal pancreatic lobule is seen at the extreme right hand edge of the slide.  The slide which you have contains a section taken through the extrapancreatic portion of the common bile duct (CD).

Slide 3
This low power view shows a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma.  Irregularly shaped malignant glands are embedded in chronically inflamed fibrous tissue.  Adenocarcinomas of the pancreas typically excite this type of fibrous reaction (“desmoplasia”) in the surrounding tissue.  When palpated, the tumor may be extremely hard, making it virtually impossible to differentiate from chronic pancreatitis