title: Acute pancreatitis as presenting symptom and sole manifestation of small cell lung carcinoma.
abstract: A 58-year-old man with no sign of pulmonary disease and a normal chest x-ray presented with acute pancreatitis resistant to conventional medical management and a mass in the head of the pancreas. The presumptive diagnosis was pancreatic cancer with tumor-induced pancreatitis. However, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography suggested metastatic rather than primary tumor, so that an extrapancreatic primary was actively sought. Further lung work-up demonstrated a small cell carcinoma of the lung. This case indicates that metastasis-induced acute pancreatitis can be the presenting symptom and sole manifestation of lung cancer.
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D002760:Cholangiopancreatography, Endoscopic Retrograde; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology