A solid variant of a serous cystadenocarcinoma of the pancreas

Cystic pancreatic neoplasms concern 1 to 2 % of the pancreatic tumours. The serous ones are considered benign tumours but since 1989, several pancreatic serous cystadenocarcinomas (SCAC) cases have been reported. We report the case of a SCAC with a particular pattern. An 80-year-old female patient presented a 4-cm tumour in the neck of the pancreas associated with liver lesions evoking, on imagery exams, focal nodular hyperplasia nests. A cephalic duodenopancreatectomy and a resection of the liver lesions were carried out. The gross exam showed a tumour with a pattern mostly solid and an area made of cysts. The microscopic exam displayed two patterns: the solid one, predominant, made of mild atypical clear cells, and the cystic one. The liver lesions revealed solid pattern similar to the pancreatic tumour one. The tumoral cells were cytokeratin 7, AE1 / AE3 and inhibin positives. The Periodic-acid Schiff showed cytoplasmic granulations, which were digested after diasatasis. Only the presence of metastases allows distinguishing a pancreatic serous cystadenoma from a SCAC. To date, thirty cases of pancreatic SCAC have been reported. Immunohistochemistry cannot confirm the malignancy nature of the lesion but it needs to be done in order to cross out the differential diagnosis, that is pancreatic metastatic clear cell renal carcinoma. Nevertheless, it remains a pathology with good prognosis. Only two cases have been reported but ours case a predominant solid pattern. (C) 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.