Clinical and pathological features of solid pseudopapillary neoplasms of the pancreas at a single institution

Abstract

Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the clinicopathological features and surgical management of solid pseudopapillary neoplasms (SPNs) of the pancreas at a single institution.

Methods: We investigated 34 patients (5 males and 29 females) who underwent surgery for pathologically confirmed SPNs between 1994 and 2012.

Results: Clinical symptoms were absent in 58.8% of the patients. The median tumor diameter was 42.7 mm. All tumors were successfully removed by R0 resection. Pathologically, 5.9% had duodenum invasion and 2.9% had pancreatic serosal invasion, but there was no lymph node metastasis. Radiological findings showed calcification in 39.4% of the patients, capsule formation in 51.5%, cystic components in 69.7%, solid components in 93.9% and internal bleeding in 36.4%. Immunohistochemically, neuron-specific enolase was positive in 100% of the patients, nuclear accumulation of β-catenin in 100% and CD10 in 78.8%. There were no recurrences reported at the median follow-up (67 months). Regarding gender differences, the cystic component in radiological imaging was the only significant finding among the features studied (p = 0.01).

Conclusions: R0 resection with appropriate procedures appears to be sufficient for patients with SPNs, even for locally invasive tumors. There were no significant differences between genders except for the cystic component on radiological imaging.