title: Natural history of a patient with malignant nonfunctioning islet cell tumor associated with unresectable multiple liver metastases.
abstract: Islet cell tumors of the pancreas are uncommon. Approximately 15% of islet cell tumors are nonfunctioning and have a higher malignancy rate than their functioning counterparts. Though, because of the rarity of malignant nonfunctioning islet cell tumors, the natural history of a patient with this tumor has not been clearly defined. We describe a young patient with unresectable malignant nonfunctioning islet cell tumor associated with multiple liver metastases. He was treated with palliative therapies to improve his quality of life, but did not undergo surgical removal of tumors or systemic chemotherapy. He survived for 46 months since laparotomy for histological diagnosis. Our findings may represent the natural history of patients with unresectable malignant nonfunctioning islet cell tumor, and suggest that palliative therapy may contribute not only to the improvement of a patients' quality of life but also the prolongation of survival.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Surgery, Omiya Medical Center, Jichi Medical School, Saitama, Japan. noda164@omiya.jichi.ac.jp
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Noda
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Toyama
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suminaga
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Konishi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018273:Carcinoma, Islet Cell / Q000556:secondary*; D006801:Humans; D007813:Laparotomy; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D010166:Palliative Care; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D011788:Quality of Life