'An Evening with a Great Teacher'
Spotlights the Pancreas

This year's Niehoff "Evening with a Great Teacher" program introduced listeners who had just eaten appetizers and a full meal to the purposes of the pancreas in a talk presented by Jeffrey Matthews, chief of surgery at the College of Medicine.

Bile and digestive juices aren't necessarily something you want to consider just after eating supper, but then again perhaps it's the perfect time to do so. Either way, the audience didn't seem to mind.

Matthews talk, titled "The Pancreas: When Bad Things Happen to a Good Organ," explained that the pancreas really functions as two organs. It secretes fluids used to break food down. It also secretes hormones that are released into the bloodstream to regulate metabolism.

If something goes wrong with the pancreas, serious and sometimes fatal disorders can result. Among them are diabetes, pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer, one of the most lethal kinds of cancer.

Inside the pancreas is the Duct of Wirsung, the Sphincter of Oddi, the Ampulla of Vater and the Islets of Langerhans. Trust me, you should be glad you have them despite their odd names.

Matthews pointed out that UC is one of only five centers in the country that performs islet cell transplant for diabetes, and that UC surgeons routinely perform complex pancreatic surgery for cancer and chronic pancreatitis.

He acknowledged the work of his surgery colleagues Andrew Lowy and Syed Ahmad, for their work on pancreatic cancer; Horacio Rilo, who does islet cell transplantations; Mike Hanaway, who performs pancreas transplants; and internal medicine physicians Charles Ulrich, Stephen Martin and Lehel Somogyi.

Matthews also thanked Buck Niehoff for sponsoring the "Evening with a Great Teacher" program. "We are training the next generation of leaders in medicine for the Greater Cincinnati community," he says. In the age of managed care and rising costs, it becomes harder and harder for university hospitals to support the teaching mission, Matthews notes. "We need the support."