title: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma presenting as a splenic abscess: case report and diagnostic approach.
abstract: As the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States, pancreatic adenocarcinoma is both a diagnostic and a therapeutic challenge. Its incidence has risen in the past four decades so that pancreatic cancer ranks second to colon cancer as a leading cause of death from gastrointestinal malignancy. Despite technical and therapeutic advances, the prognosis remains dismal; the average survival time after diagnosis is characteristically only five to eight months. The current patient had a pancreatic adenocarcinoma that mimicked other disorders. Variability in clinical presentation and imaging studies warrants consideration of this entity in the differential diagnoses of many splenic and pancreatic lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiological Sciences at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, USA.
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Lastrapes
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kida
mesh_terms: D000038:Abscess / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006498:Hepatectomy; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010179:Pancreas / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D013154:Spleen / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D013156:Splenectomy; D013158:Splenic Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed