Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Rare disease
Solid pseudopapillary neoplasm of the pancreas
  1. Donna Cummins1,
  2. Margaret Sheehan2,
  3. John Bruzzi3,
  4. Oliver McAnena4
  1. 1Department of Emergency Medicine, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
  2. 2Department of Pathology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
  3. 3Department of Radiology, University College Hospital, Galway, Galway, Ireland
  4. 4Department of Surgery, Galway University Hospital, Galway, Ireland
  1. Correspondence to Dr Donna Cummins, donnacummins{at}gmail.com

Summary

Solid pseudopapillary neoplasms (SPNs) are rare entities accounting for between 0.13 and 2.7 per cent of pancreatic tumours. This neoplasm has a predilection for females under the age of 35. The authors report this case of a SPN incidentally discovered when a 59-year-old female underwent a chest x-ray to investigate a wheeze. A subsequent CT abdomen revealed a 10 cm well-circumscribed mass adjacent to the tail of the pancreas. This mass was successfully resected. Immunohistochemical markers established the diagnosis of a SPN. The wheeze associated with the presentation of this case was unrelated to the tumour which was an incidental finding. These neoplasms are largely asymptomatic and indolent reaching a large size before detection. Diagnosis is confirmed on histology and in this case surgical resection was curative and there was no metastasis at presentation.

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests None.

  • Patient consent Obtained.