In this example, it says that a patient with pancreatic cancer undergoes an operation to remove a tumor on the tail of the pancreas. During the operation, approximately one third of the pancreas is removed. Alright. So for a, it says on the diagram, circle the approximate region that was removed as part of the surgery. So here's our diagram. We see the pancreas, and we see the small intestine that it's up against here, that first section of the small intestine, the duodenum. Alright. So if one third of the pancreas is removed and it's on the tail of the pancreas, what are you circling? Well, I'm circling this region down here. We said the tail was sort of the pointy end farther away from the small intestine. So if you're removing a third of the pancreas at the tail, that's about what I circled there.
Now b here says, would you expect a surgery to remove the head or the tail of the pancreas to be more complicated? And explain why. So which do you think would be a more complicated surgery, removing the head or the tail? Well, I think the head would be more complicated, and we can see why if we look at our image here. Right? So if we look over at our image, we have this pancreatic duct and the pancreatic duct enters into the small intestine. So if you're going to have a surgery, removing the head of the pancreas, well, you have to figure out how you're going to connect the rest of this pancreatic duct to the small intestine. Alright. So therefore, the head, I think, is going to be more complicated, and we're going to say here, that's because the head connects to the small intestine via the pancreatic duct. Removing the tail of the pancreas, the pancreas is still connected to the small intestine, so the rest of the pancreas, if it's still functional, is still going to be secreting those juices that can enter into the small intestine. Alright. Obviously, if this is a test question, I'd write it in nice complete sentences.
Now c here says, after such surgery, some patients require additional digestive enzyme supplements. Based on where in the digestive system different enzymes are produced, which class of digestive enzyme would you expect is the most important to supplement? Alright. Well, when we think about the pancreas, we said it's making, basically, enzymes that digest all of the macromolecules in your food. Right? The proteins, the lipids, the nucleic acids, and the starches. But which one do you think would be most important to supplement? Well, you might want to supplement them all, but we did note that lipases, this is the primary source of lipases. So pancreatic juice makes most of the lipases. So I am going to say that the lipases are what you would most want to supplement. Alright. With that, we've answered the question, and we got practice problems after this. I'll see you there.