Magnetic resonance imaging investigation of age‐related morphological changes in the pancreases of 226 Chinese

Abstract

Objective To investigate the morphological changes with age in the pancreases of healthy individuals undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods The participants were selected from adults who were undergoing physical examinations from January 2017 to September 2020 at Huadong Hospital. They were divided according to age, as broken down by decades into seven groups ranging from 20 to 29 years to ≥80 years of age. There were 30 to 35 cases for each decade. They were then divided into a young and middle‐aged group (<60 years of age) and an elderly group (≥60 years of age). The morphological characteristics of the pancreases of each participant in the group were measured on magnetic resonance images. The characteristics included the pancreatic anteroposterior diameters and volumes. The relationships between the anteroposterior diameters of the pancreatic head, body, and tail and pancreatic volume and age were analyzed. Results A total of 226 magnetic resonance images from 112 (49.56%) men and 114 (50.44%) women, aged 22–93 (54.68 ± 19.52) years. The age ranges of the seven groups consisted of the following: 20–29 years ( n = 33), 30–39 years ( n = 32), 40–49 years ( n = 32), 50–59 years ( n = 31), 60–69 years ( n = 35), 70–79 years ( n = 33) and ≥80 years ( n = 30). The age range and numbers of patients in the young and middle‐aged group was 22–59 (40.09 ± 10.88) years ( n = 128) and in the elderly group was 60–93 (73.74 ± 8.99) years ( n = 98). The MRI findings characteristic of aging included pancreatic atrophy (especially of the pancreatic tail), pancreatic lobulation, uneven signal intensity, fatty degeneration, and widening of the main pancreatic duct. The respective anteroposterior diameters of the pancreatic head, body, and tail and the pancreatic volumes peaked at 30 to 39 years as follows: 28.03 ± 4.45 mm, 24.10 ± 4.27 mm, 24.57 ± 4.94 mm, 98.54 ± 26.56 cm 3 ; and then gradually decreased to 19.05 ± 3.59 mm, 16.00 ± 3.81 mm, 13.83 ± 3.39 mm, 45.02 ± 9.15 cm 3 at ≥80 years, for respective decreases of 32.03%, 33.60%, 43.71%, and 54.31%. The respective anteroposterior diameters of the pancreatic head, body, tail, and pancreatic volume in the elderly patients were 21.45 ± 4.15 mm, 18.14 ± 4.09 mm, 16.81 ± 4.37 mm, and 59.02 ± 21.44 cm 3 , which were significantly smaller than the respective corresponding measurements in the young and middle‐aged patients (26.09 ± 4.40 mm, 22.30 ± 4.42 mm, 22.08 ± 4.53 mm, and 88.32 ± 23.92 cm 3 ). The differences were statistically significant (t = 8.06, 7.24, 8.79, 9.54, respectively, p < 0.001). The a...

Biomarkers of aging

“…Medical imaging is a promising source for biomarker development as it provides a macroscopic view of tissues of interest (O 'Connor et al, 2017) and has advantages of noninvasiveness, readily availability in clinical care, and repeatability (Lambin et al, 2017;Morin et al, 2018). CT (Caglar et al, 2012), MRI (Sato et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2021b), ultrasonography (Glaser and Stienecker, 2000), endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) (Rajan et al, 2005), endoscopic ultrasound elastography (EUS-elastography) (Janssen and Papavassiliou, 2014), and endoscopic retrocholangiography (ERCP) (Anand et al, 1989;Hastier et al, 1998), etc., have been commonly used to assess the agerelated morphological changes of the human pancreas. Reduction of pancreatic volume, hardening of texture, and dilatation of the pancreatic ducts, as well as pancreatic lobulation (Sato et al, 2012) and pancreatic steatosis (Begovatz et al, 2015) are the main findings from these studies associated with aging, which are potential biomarkers for the macroscopic changes of pancreatic aging (Table S15 in Supporting Information).…”

“…Pancreatic atrophy is considered to be one of the characteristics of pancreatic aging. MRI analysis shows the pancreatic anteroposterior (AP) diameter reaches maximum values at the age of 30-39 years, followed by a gradual decrease, especially in the tail of the pancreas (Sato et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2021b). Accordingly, studies showed that the pancreatic volumes gradually increased to peak during the ages ranging from 20-49 years, and gradually decreased after 60 years of age by CT/MRI examinations (Caglar et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2021b;Yoon et al, 2020).…”

“…MRI analysis shows the pancreatic anteroposterior (AP) diameter reaches maximum values at the age of 30-39 years, followed by a gradual decrease, especially in the tail of the pancreas (Sato et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2021b). Accordingly, studies showed that the pancreatic volumes gradually increased to peak during the ages ranging from 20-49 years, and gradually decreased after 60 years of age by CT/MRI examinations (Caglar et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2021b;Yoon et al, 2020). Janssen and Papavassiliou (2014) found that the average strain values of pancreases were 110.2 in the young and middle-aged group and 80.0 in the elderly group by semi-quantitative EUSelastography, indicating that the pancreas becomes significantly harder during aging.…”

The Roles of Lipid Metabolism in the Pathogenesis of Chronic Diseases in the Elderly

“…Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to scan the morphological characteristics of the pancreas in over two hundred healthy participants, which revealed that the pancreases of elderly subjects showed signs of atrophy. Moreover, the critical age range for pancreatic morphological changes was found to be 40 years old and 60 years old [14]. Consistently, MRI demonstrated increased pancreatic atrophy, lobulation, and steatosis in aged mice [15].…”

Changes in Pancreatic Senescence Mediate Pancreatic Diseases

“…More recently, Wang et al used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate the relationships between the age and the anteroposterior diameters of the pancreatic head, body, and tail and pancreatic volume in 226 subjects (112 men and 114 women). All four measurements peaked at the age range of 30–39 years and then gradually decreased with increasing age ( p < 0.001) [ 21 ]. Janssen and Papavassiliou evaluated age-related changes in pancreatic stiffness, wherein semiquantitative elastography showed a significantly stiffened pancreas in healthy individuals over 60 years of age ( p < 0.001) [ 22 ].…”