J Korean Surg Soc.
2000 Nov;59(5):651-657.
Pancreatic Incidentaloma New approach to the pancreatic neoplasm by health screening
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
- 2Health Promotion Center, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Abstract
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PURPOSE: Recently, the importance of early diagnosis and early treatment has been increasing, and
there are many cases where tumors have been discovered incidentally. However, due to lack of reports
regarding pancreatic cases, the clear management plan remains in dispute. This study attempted to analyse
pancreatic cases so as to offer a management direction. METHODS: From October 1994 to May 1999,
we experienced 28 cases of incidentally discovered pancreatic tumors and those cases were reviewed
retrospectively. RESULTS: In regards to initial referrals for diagnosis, 19 cases were from general medical
examinations, and 9 cases were referred due to symptoms or signs not related to their tumors (2 cases
with hepatitis B, 2 cases with lung lesions, 1 case with a gastric leiomyosarcoma, 1 case with vaginal
bleeding, 1 case with acute enteritis, 1 case with a toothache and 1 case with a headache). Twenty cases
were initially detected from abdominal US, 3 cases from abdominal CT, 2 case from chest CT, 2 case
from the simple abdomen, and 1 case from CA 19-9 investigation. The accuracies for diagnosing the
precise type of tumor were CT 42.3% (11/26), ERCP 15.3% (2/13), abdominal US 12.5%, and (3/24).
Postoperative pathologies included 7 serous cystadenomas, 6 solid-pseudopapillary tumors, 4
mucinous cystic neoplasms, 4 nonfunctioning islet cell tumors, 2 intraductal papillary mucinous
neoplasms, 2 simple cysts, 1 ductal adenocarcinoma, 1 benign retension cyst, and 1 pseudocyst.
Among these were 5 malignant neoplasms (3 nonfunctional islet cell tumors, 1 ductal
adenocarcinoma, and 1 mucinous cystic neoplasm), and 17 cases (60.7%) were premalignant
tumors. All cases were treated with a pancreatic resection, and postoperative follow-up was
carried out for a period of 3-66 months. During thisperiod, no recurrence or mortality was noted
other than 1 case of liver metastasis 12 months postoperatively for ductal adenocarcinoma.
CONCLUSION
Although presence of a ductal adenocarcinoma is rare in incidentally discovered
pancreatic tumors pancreatic incidentaloma is common in premalignant neoplasms. Therefore,
even in asymptomatic cases, aggressive surgical resection is necessary for accurate diagnosis
and early treatment.