To assess the coexistence of pancreatic alterations and elevation of parathyroid hormone (PTH) as contributors to morbidity, a study correlating evidence of histological pancreatitis with elevated PTH has been undertaken. A retrospective autopsy study of pancreatic histology in 21 patients who died during maintenance hemodialysis (MD) (group I) compared their level of serum PTH with a group of patients who died without historical or clinical evidence of renal insufficiency (group II). Each patient in this group had creatinine clearance of less than 5 ml/min and had been treated with hemodialysis from 4 to 120 months preceding death. There was a difference in the incidence of histological and PTH levels between groups I and II. A total of 15 out of 21 (71.4%) of group I patients had severe pancreatic disease. By contrast, none of the group II control patients had marked pancreatic disease (p less than 0.01). Also a statistically different demarcation was present between groups I and II on the basis of PTH levels. Group I patients with pancreatic disease (n = 5) had a higher PTH level (567 +/- 76 pg/ml) than those (n = 6) without diseased pancreata (218 +/- 6.5 pg/ml). These data infer that a possible correlation between measured iPTH excess and histological alterations in pancreas may exist.