Hoshimoto S, Matsui J, Miyata R, Takigawa Y, Miyauchi J. Anaplastic carcinoma of the pancreas: Case report and literature review of reported cases in Japan. World J Gastroenterol 2016; 22(38): 8631-8637 [PMID: 27784976 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i38.8631]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Sojun Hoshimoto, MD, PhD, Department of Surgery, Tokyo Dental College Ichikawa General Hospital, 5-11-13 Sugano, Ichikawa-shi, Chiba 272-8513, Japan. sojunh@yahoo.co.jp
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 14, 2016; 22(38): 8631-8637 Published online Oct 14, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i38.8631
Anaplastic carcinoma of the pancreas: Case report and literature review of reported cases in Japan
Sojun Hoshimoto, Junichi Matsui, Ryohei Miyata, Yutaka Takigawa, Jun Miyauchi
Sojun Hoshimoto, Junichi Matsui, Ryohei Miyata, Yutaka Takigawa, Department of Surgery, Tokyo Dental College Ichikawa General Hospital, Chiba 272-8513, Japan
Jun Miyauchi, Department of Pathology, Tokyo Dental College Ichikawa General Hospital, Chiba 272-8513, Japan
Author contributions: Hoshimoto S and Matsui J designed the report; Matsui J and Miyata R were in charge of the treatment of the patient and contributed to the collection of clinical data; Hoshimoto S analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; Matsui J and Takigawa Y reviewed and edited the manuscript; and Miyauchi J reviewed the pathological findings and prepared the pathological images.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Tokyo Dental College Ichikawa General Hospital.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of this case report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Sojun Hoshimoto, MD, PhD, Department of Surgery, Tokyo Dental College Ichikawa General Hospital, 5-11-13 Sugano, Ichikawa-shi, Chiba 272-8513, Japan. sojunh@yahoo.co.jp
Telephone: +81-47-3220151 Fax: +81-47-3248539
Received: May 6, 2016 Peer-review started: May 8, 2016 First decision: June 20, 2016 Revised: July 5, 2016 Accepted: July 31, 2016 Article in press: August 1, 2016 Published online: October 14, 2016 Processing time: 158 Days and 18.1 Hours
Abstract
We report a case of a 64-year-old woman with anaplastic carcinoma of the pancreas (ACP) with cyst formation and review 60 ACP cases reported in Japan. In 20% of cases, laboratory tests revealed severe anemia (hemoglobin level < 10.0 g/dL) and elevated leucocyte counts (> 12000/mm3), which were likely attributable to rapid tumor growth, intratumoral hemorrhage, and necrosis. Elevated serum CA19-9 levels were observed in 55% of cases. Cyst-like structures were observed on imaging in 47% of cases, and this finding appears to reflect subsequent cystic degeneration in the lesion. Macroscopically, hemorrhagic necrosis was observed in 77% of cases, and cyst formation was observed in 33% of cases. ACP should be considered when diagnosing pancreatic tumors with a cyst-like appearance, especially in the presence of severe anemia, elevated leucocyte counts, or elevated serum CA19-9 levels.
Core tip: Anaplastic carcinoma of the pancreas (ACP), an uncommon histologic subtype of pancreatic cancer, is well known to be associated with more aggressive tumor behavior and less favorable prognosis than conventional pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. However, the literature on ACP has been very limited, and its clinicopathological features, therapeutic management, and clinical outcome remain uncertain. We report a case of ACP showing cyst formation and review 60 cases of ACP reported in Japan to elucidate the clinical and radiological features of ACP. This literature review describes the greatest number cases of ACP of any report to date.
