Small invasive ductal carcinoma of the pancreas distinct from branch duct intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm

摘要

Endoscopic ultrasonography(EUS)is a highly sensitive diagnostic method for the detection of small pancreatic carcinomas.Recently,there have been some reports describing the utility of contrast-enhanced harmonic EUS(CEH-EUS)which uses sonographic contrast agent for differentiation of a pancreatic mass.This report describes a case of small adenocarcinoma of the pancreas distinct from branch duct intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm(IPMN)in which investigation by EUS took place every 6 mo and diagnosis was made accurately by additional CEH-EUS during the follow- up of the branch duct IPMN.A 68-year-old female was admitted to our hospital because of a branch duct IPMN in the pancreatic body.She had been followedup by EUS every 6 mo.However,after 2 years EUSdemonstrated a low echoic area distinct from the branch duct IPMN which was vaguely discernible by EUS,and accurate sizing and differential diagnosis were considered difficult on the EUS imaging.CHEUS with Sonazoid revealed a hypovascular tumor and we suspected small pancreatic carcinoma.The histopathological diagnosis was adenocarcinoma (10 mm)in the pancreatic tail,distinct from the branch duct IPMN of the pancreatic body.EUS and CEH-EUS may play an important role in the correct diagnosis of small pancreatic tumors,including synchronous and metachronous occurrence of IPMN and ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.