title: Huge pancreas helps diagnosis in von Hippel-Lindau disease.
abstract: We describe five patients diagnosed with von Hippel-Lindau disease who complained of abdominal distension, pain and discomfort for a long time. All patients underwent ultrasonography, CT scan and MRI, which showed huge pancreas filled with multiple cysts. Additionally, extrapancreatic findings such as cerebellar hemangioblastoma (3 patients), retinal hemangioblastoma (2), renal cell carcinoma (3), renal adenoma (1), renal cysts (4), and splenic cyst (1) helped to reach the right diagnosis. One patient who had no known associated pathology had a family history of von Hippel-Lindau disease. Pancreatic cysts detected on imaging may be a clue to the diagnosis of von Hippel-Lindau disease. In all patients with multiple pancreatic cysts, this disease should be included in the differential diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Sisli Etfal Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. drhozkurt@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Huseyin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ozkurt
authors.forename: Hulya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Degirmenci
authors.forename: Gulden
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yenice
authors.forename: Ozan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Karatag
authors.forename: Muzaffer
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Basak
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010181:Pancreatic Cyst / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006623:von Hippel-Lindau Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*