Korean J Med.  2010 Mar;78(3):279-288.

Differential diagnosis of cystic diseases of pancreas

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Internal Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.

Abstract

Cystic diseases of pancreas are increasingly detected because of high quality of imaging modality. Most of pancreatic cysts are discovered incidentally. Differential diagnosis of pancreatic cysts is very important because they include wide range of pathologic disease such as inflammation, benign neoplasm, borderline and malignant neoplasm. The most common cystic disease of pancreas is post-inflammatory pseudocyst, but in recent decades the incidence of neoplastic cysts, such as serous cyst neoplasm, mucinous cyst neoplasm, intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm has increased. Among the cystic neoplasms, mucinous cystic neoplasm, intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm are premalignant, and serous cystadenoma has no malignant potential. Patient's age, symptoms and a possible history of acute or chronic pancreatitis together with cross-sectional imaging modalities are mainstay for differential diagnosis of cystic diseases of pancreas. Cystic fluid cytology and analysis for CEA, mucin stain, and viscosity are providing additional information for differentiation. But cross-sectional images have overlapping findings in various cystic diseases and cystic fluid aspiration has still lack of sensitivity. The purpose of this review article is to provide the overview of the differentiation of pancreatic cystic lesions.

Keyword

Cystic disease; Pancreas; Diagnosis, differential

MeSH Terms

Cystadenoma, Serous
Diagnosis, Differential
Incidence
Inflammation
Mucins
Pancreas
Pancreatic Cyst
Pancreatitis, Chronic
Viscosity
Mucins
Full Text Links
  • KJM
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr