Heterotopic pancreas in the stomach: a case report and literature review

Abstract

Ectopic pancreas is defined as pancreatic tissue found outside the usual anatomic location of the pancreas. It is often an incidental finding and can be found at different sites in the gastrointestinal tract. It may become clinically evident when complicated by pathologic changes such as inflammation, bleeding, obstruction, and malignant transformation. In this report, a 40 years old woman with epigastric pain due to ectopic pancreatic tissue in the stomach is described. The difficulty of making an accurate diagnosis is highlighted. The patient has remained free of symptoms since she underwent wedge resection of the lesion three years ago. Frozen sections may help in deciding the extent of resection intraoperatively. Although ectopic pancreas is rare, it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a submucosal gastric tumour.

Figure 1

Heterotopic pancre-atic lobules occupying the submucosa under an intact normal gastric mucosa (HE, x 100) (A) and between smooth muscle fibers of the gastric muscularis propria (HE, x 200) (B).