The pancreas is a gland and the spleen is not. The pancreas is essential to life; the spleen is expendable. The pancreas is a jellylike organ, about six inches long, shaped roughly like a banana (and about the same size), tucked behind the stomach in the upper abdomen. As well as insulin, it produces the hormone glucagon, which is also involved in regulating blood sugar, and the digestive enzymes trypsin, lipase, and amylase, which help digest cholesterol and fats. Altogether every day it produces over a quart of pancreatic juice, a pretty prodigious amount for an organ of its size. The
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