Pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma: a clinicopathological and immunohistochemical analysis of 8 cases

Abstract

Objective To investigate the clinicopathological features,immunohistochemical phenotype of pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma.Methods Eight cases of pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma admitted to our hospital from January 2001 to January 2011 were retrospectively analyzed. The clinicopathological characteristics,and immunohistochemical staining for phenotype were analyzed,then the follow-up data were summarized.Results All 8 patients with pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma was male,with a median age of 47 years old.Tumors were located in the pancreatic head in 4 patients,pancreatic body and tail in 4 patients.The average tumor size was 4.5 cm × 4.0 cm × 3.2 cm,the section appeared as gray or gray-red and presented as solid or cystic lesions.Larger tumors were often accompanied by hemorrhage and necrosis.Microscopically,the tumor cells arranged in acinic,cord,trabecular or solid nests.The cytoplasm was abundant and eosinophilic.The nuclear was round,oval,slightly atypia.lmmunohistochemical staining showed diffusely positive for CAM5.2,α-AT,α-ACT and focally positive for CA19-9,CEA,E-cad,β-cat and MUC-1 and only occasionally positive for AFP,NSE,Syn and CgA.Follow-up data showed there was one case of postoperative death due to postoperative pancreatic leakage with abdominal infection.Liver metastasis occurred in 4 cases,among whom,2 cases died.Conclusions Pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma is a rare epithelial malignant tumor of pancreas,with distinct phenotype characteristics. Key words: Pancreatic neoplasms; Acinar cell carcinoma; Immunohistochemistry; Differential diagnosis