[Clinical features of neuroendocrine tumor of the pancreas: single center study].
OBJECTIVE
Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNET) are rare and manifest as functioning tumor (FT) or non-functioning tumor (NFT). Although malignant changes are observed in some cases, its prognosis is better than pancreatic cancer. We evaluated clinicoradiologic features and prognosis of FT and NFT. In addition, we tried to find the predictive factors for the recurrence of NFT after resection.


METHODS
Between October 1994 and June 2004, we retrospectively evaluated the clinicopathologic features and prognosis of 12 cases of FT and 31 cases of NFT diagnosed by surgical pathology at single medical center in Korea.


RESULTS
PNET included 6 insulinomas, 4 gastrinomas, 1 glucagonoma, 1 somatostatinoma and 31 NFT. The major clinical manifestations were neuroglycopenic symptoms (100%) in insulinoma, abdominal ulcer symptoms (75%) in gastrinoma, dermatitis (100%) in glucagonoma, steatorrhea (100%) in somatostatinoma, and abdominal discomfort or pain (45%) in NFT. NFT was located more proximally when compared to FT (p=0.023). NFT showed more malignant (64.5%) behavior compared to FT (41.7%) despite the lack of statistical significance. Curative resections were done without postoperative death in 38 cases. Six cases of NFT (21.4%) and 1 case of FT (10%) recurred with an average of 26.5 months. In the recurrent NFT, the findings of diabetes mellitus (p=0.010), abnormal pancreatic duct (p=0.026), Whipple's operation (p=0.013) and tumor emboli (p=0.03) were more common than in non-recurrent NFT.


CONCLUSIONS
FT and NFT showed different clinicoradiologic features. In addition, NFT should be monitored more carefully because of frequent recurrence.
Kang
Tae Wook
TW
Department of Internal Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea.
Lee
Kyu Taek
KT
Ryu
Min Kyu
MK
Moon
Won
W
Lee
Sang Soo
SS
Lee
Sun-Young
SY
Hwang
Ji Young
JY
Lee
Jong Kyun
JK
Heo
Jin Seok
JS
Choi
Seong Heum
SH
Kim
Sang Heum
SH
Paik
Seung Woon
SW
Rhee
Jong Chul
JC
D000328:Adult; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology; D018358:Neuroendocrine Tumors / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010183:Pancreatic Ducts / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000473:pathology; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008061:Whipple Disease / Q000150:complications