Clinical, pathologic and endoscopic ultrasound characteristics of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

Abstract

Objective To investigate the clinical,pathologic and endoscopic ultrasound characteristics of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs).Methods Clinical data of 24 consecutive patients of PNETs who were admitted between January 2002 and January 2011 were reviewed.Results Among these 24 patients,19 were diagnosed to have insulinomas,1 was malignant insulinoma,2 were gastrinomas,and 2 were glucagonomas.Eighteen (75％) cases of PNETs were functional PNETs,and 6 (25％) were nonfunctional PNETs.The mean age of the patients was (42 ± 14) years old ranging from 19 ～ 64 years old,and the percentage of male patient was 33.3％.The main symptoms of insulinomas were intermittent abdominal pain or discomfort,and the main manifestations of glucagonomas were weight loss,skin migratory erythema; and the main symptoms of gastrinomas were diarrhea,vomiting with large amounts of water-like liquid.The detection rate of CT was 86.7％ (13/15),and the detection rate of EUS was 100％ (15/15),but PET-CT detected only 40％ of tumors (2/5).The endoscopic ultrasound characteristics of PNETs were circular or oval hypoechoic mass,and the volume was small with clear boundary and homogeneous echo.There was no enlarged lymph node,and liquid was detected in big tumor.Twenty-two patients received operation and 2 patients did not.PNETs expressed CgA and Syn protein.All patients of PNETs were alive with 7 to 80 months follow-up.Conclusions The clinical characteristics of PNETs were unique.EUS has a high accuracy for detecting and localizing PNETs.The surgical method is similar to that of pancreatic cancer,and the prognosis is relatively good. Key words: Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors;  Ultrasonography, endoscopic ;  Adenoma, islet cell;  Gastrinoma;  Glucagonoma;  Retrospective studies