Friday, 5 December 2014

Pancreatic cystic (fluid filled) Tumors: what are they and how to treat them??

Cystic (fluid filled) tumors of pancreas. How to deal??

Cystic tumors of pancreas has become well known entities in last decade with incidence of 2.6 per 100 individuals.

Type of cystic tumors:
     
Ø  Pseudocysts (complication of pancreatitis or trauma)
Ø  Serous cystadenoma
Ø  Mucinous cystadenoma
Ø  Intra ductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IMPNs)
Ø  Cystic lesions with invasive cancers.





Pseudocysts will be covered in next blog as they are very common and required details explainations.



Ø  Serous cystadenomas:

o   Mostly benign tumors chances of malignancy is less than 1%
o   Large size (> 10cm)
o   Classic honeycomb appearance is seen some times with calcified central scar.
o   Because of fibrous nature on CT scan solid material is also seen
o   Most symptoms are due to large size and compression to other organs like pain, vomiting, jaundice.
o   Young patient with large tumour should be offered surgery other patients should be kept on regular followup.




Ø  Mucinous cystadenomas:
o   Mucin producing cystic tumors
o   Ovary like structure
o   Mostly in body and tail of pancreas
o   Can be from small size (2cm to very large 25 cm)
o   Mostly in female
o   Generally unilocular (single cavity)
o   CT scan may show egg shell appearance
o   Risk of being malignant (cancerous)
o   Treatment: should be surgically removed.




Ø  Intraductal Papillary Mucinous neoplasms
o   Equally seen in men and women
o   Between 60 to 70 years of age
o   Risk of developing in to cancer present
o   May involve main pancreatic duct or branch pancreatic duct
o   Presence of a discrete mass or solid component should be concerning of malignancy
o   Branch duct IMPN is difficult to diagnose
o   Cancer is found in 20 to 40% of specimen
o   Surgically removed if Entire pancreatic duct involvement, solid component , size greater than 3 cm, presence of septation




Diagnosis:

            Diagnosis is mostly done by CT scan and MRCP/MRI. Sometimes endoscopic ultrasound helps. Cyst fluid analysis also helps in diagnoses.


Treatment flow Chart:


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