Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Dec 6, 2018; 6(15): 1036-1041
Published online Dec 6, 2018. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v6.i15.1036
Pancreatic panniculitis and solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas: A case report
Meng-Yu Zhang, Bo-Le Tian
Meng-Yu Zhang, Bo-Le Tian, Department of Pancreatic Surgery, West China Hospital/West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China
Meng-Yu Zhang, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Tian BL designed the report; Zhang MY collected the patient’s clinical data and drafted and reviewed the manuscript; both authors have read and approved the final manuscript to be submitted.
Informed consent statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, Sichuan Province, China, and informed consent was obtained from the patient.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there are no potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Bo-Le Tian, MD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Department of Pancreatic Surgery, West China Hospital/West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, No. 37, Guoxue Avenue, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China. hxtbl0338@126.com
Telephone: +86-28-85553329
Received: August 17, 2018
Peer-review started: August 17, 2018
First decision: October 4, 2018
Revised: November 3, 2018
Accepted: November 7, 2018
Article in press: November 7, 2018
Published online: December 6, 2018
Abstract

Solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas (SPTP), also known as solid and papillary epithelial neoplasm of the pancreas, is a rare pancreatic exocrine tumor that is difficult to diagnose before surgery. Pancreatic panniculitis is a rare type that occurs in less than 3% of all patients with pancreatic diseases. We here report a 19-year-old woman who presented with persistent left upper quadrant pain without obvious cause for 1 d. The patient also developed subcutaneous nodules involving lower abdomen bilaterally and lower limbs, and subcutaneous nodules were pathologically diagnosed as pancreatic panniculitis. Plain abdominal computed tomography revealed a soft-tissue mass in the body and tail of the pancreas, which was closely associated with the gastric wall. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound showed inhomogeneous echogenicity in the anterior pancreatic body, which had blurred parenchymal demarcation of the body and tail of the pancreas. Contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomography revealed a mixed density mass with solid and cystic components in the body and tail of the pancreas, and the solid component was markedly enhanced. The lesion was pathologically diagnosed as SPTP after laparoscopic resection. Clinicians should be aware of the clinical manifestation, diagnosis, and treatment of pancreatic panniculitis and SPTP.

Keywords: Case report, Pancreatic panniculitis, Solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas, Subcutaneous nodules, Laparoscopy

Core tip: Pancreatic panniculitis is a rare complication of pancreas diseases, and solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas is a rare pancreatic exocrine tumor that is difficult to diagnose before surgery. We describe the diagnosis and treatment of solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas accompanied with pancreatic panniculitis in a young woman. Plain abdominal computed tomography, contrast-enhanced ultrasound, contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomography and pathological examinations were performed.