title: Signet-ring mucinous adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.
abstract: An 88-year-old man presented symptoms and signs of ascending cholangitis and died 20 days after the onset of illness. Postmortem examination revealed a mucinous tumor arising from the head of the pancreas, encasing the common bile duct and invading the liver with multiple hepatic metastasis. The tumor showed a unique and uniform histological appearance, consisting of signet-ring neoplastic cells floating in mucin pools. The rapid clinical course and widespread hepatic metastasis of this patient suggest that this pure, signet-ring variant of mucinous adenocarcinoma of the pancreas might have a poorer prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomical and Cellular Pathology, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: L T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Chow
mesh_terms: D002288:Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous / Q000473:pathology* / Q000556:secondary; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018279:Carcinoma, Signet Ring Cell / Q000473:pathology* / Q000556:secondary; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D008297:Male; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis