Clinical characteristics and treatment of 57 patients with serous cystadenoma of pancreas

Abstract

Objective To analyse the diagnosis and treatment options of serous cystadenoma of the pancreas.Method The clinical data of 57 patients operated in the Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute & Hospital from August 1996 to December 2011 with pathologically confirmed serous cystadenoma of pancreas after the operation were retrospectively studied.Results There were 13 males (22.8％) and 44 females (77.2％).The median age was 56.8 years.The patients were asymptomatic in 31.6％.CT was accurate in the diagnosis in 70.6％.All patients received surgical resection,inluding pancreaticoduodenectomy (n =17,29.8％),distal pancreatectomy (n =38,66.7％),palliative resection (n=1),and tumor enucleation (n=1).Postoperative complications developed in 6 patients.Histopathologically,there were 50 cases of serous microcystic adenoma (87.7％) and 7 cases of serous oligocystic adenoma (12.3 ％).One of these patients had developed into serous cystadenocarcinoma.At a follow-up of 12 months to 15 years,one patient with serous cystadenocarcinoma died 13 months after the operation.The remaining patients were all alive.Statistical analysis was performed based on the postoperative histopathological type and tumor size.The mean postoperative hospital stay of the group of patients with serous microcystic adenoma were significantly longer than the patients with serous oligocystic adenoma [(17.39±7.61) d vs (19.43±0.98) d,P=0.002].The incidence of patients with clinical symptoms was higher in the group of patients with tumor size ≥4 cm when compared with the patients with tumour size ＜4 cm.There was no significant difference on the other parameters.Conclusions Pancreatic serous cystadenoma is a rare pancreatic tumor,and it often happens in elderly women.Indications for surgical resection included symptomatic tumours,tumor diameter more than 4 cm,malignant biological behavior,malignancy could not be ruled out,and potentially malignant tumors.For asymptomatic patients and tumor size less than 4 cm,surgical resection should also be considered if the tumour progresses on follow-up. Key words: Pancreatic neoplasms; Neoplasms, cystic, mucinous, and serous; Surgical procedures, operative