Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jan;18(1):43-54.
doi: 10.1038/s41574-021-00573-3. Epub 2021 Oct 20.

Metabolic implications of pancreatic fat accumulation

Robert Wagner #  1   2   3 , Sabine S Eckstein #  1   2 , Hajime Yamazaki  4 , Felicia Gerst  1   2   3 , Jürgen Machann  1   2   5 , Benjamin Assad Jaghutriz  1   2   3 , Annette Schürmann  2   6   7 , Michele Solimena  2   8   9 , Stephan Singer  10 , Alfred Königsrainer  11 , Andreas L Birkenfeld  1   2   3 , Hans-Ulrich Häring  1   2   3 , Andreas Fritsche  1   2   3 , Susanne Ullrich  1   2   3 , Martin Heni  12   13   14   15
Affiliations
Review

Metabolic implications of pancreatic fat accumulation

Robert Wagner et al. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Fat accumulation outside subcutaneous adipose tissue often has unfavourable effects on systemic metabolism. In addition to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which has received considerable attention, pancreatic fat has become an important area of research throughout the past 10 years. While a number of diagnostic approaches are available to quantify pancreatic fat, multi-echo Dixon MRI is currently the most developed method. Initial studies have shown associations between pancreatic fat and the metabolic syndrome, impaired glucose metabolism and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Pancreatic fat is linked to reduced insulin secretion, at least under specific circumstances such as prediabetes, low BMI and increased genetic risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. This Review summarizes the possible causes and metabolic consequences of pancreatic fat accumulation. In addition, potential therapeutic approaches for addressing pancreatic fat accumulation are discussed.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Mathur, A. et al. Pancreatic steatosis promotes dissemination and lethality of pancreatic cancer. J. Am. Coll. Surg. 208, 989–994 (2009). - PubMed
    1. Zhou, J. et al. The correlation between pancreatic steatosis and metabolic syndrome in a Chinese population. Pancreatology 16, 578–583 (2016). - PubMed
    1. Olsen, T. S. Lipomatosis of the pancreas in autopsy material and its relation to age and overweight. Acta Pathol. Microbiol. Scand. A 86A, 367–373 (1978). One of the first analyses of the relationship between fatty pancreas with obesity in ~400 autopsies. - PubMed
    1. Schwenzer, N. F. et al. Quantification of pancreatic lipomatosis and liver steatosis by MRI: comparison of in/opposed-phase and spectral-spatial excitation techniques. Invest. Radiol. 43, 330–337 (2008). - PubMed
    1. Rebours, V. et al. Obesity and fatty pancreatic infiltration are risk factors for pancreatic precancerous lesions (PanIN). Clin. Cancer Res. 21, 3522–3528 (2015). - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources