Silent organ

... The pancreas undergoes autolysis relatively quickly after death due to the body's own digestive enzymes, and is often difficult to see during autopsies. For this reason, the pancreas has not received much attention, and is even referred to as a silent organ in foreign textbooks, and its existence is usually unnoticed. However, in recent years, pancreatic diseases have been attracting attention, due to the fact that more cases are being diagnosed with them due to advances in diagnostic methods, and that the number of pancreatic diseases, such as acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer, is actually increasing. ...

*Some of the terminology that mentions "silent organ" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…　膵臓は，自己のもっている消化酵素によって，死後比較的早く自己融解autolysisを起こし，解剖したときに認めにくいことが多かったと思われる。このようなわけで，膵臓はあまり注目されなかった臓器であり，外国の教科書にもsilent organ(沈黙の臓器)と書かれており，平素は，その存在が気づかれずにいる臓器である。しかし近年，膵臓の病気が注目されてきているが，これは，診断法の進歩によりそれと診断される例が多くなり，また実際に，急性膵炎，慢性膵炎，膵癌など膵臓の病気が増加しているからである。…

※「silent organ」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報