title: Incidental small ampullary somatostatinoma treated with ampullectomy 2 years after diagnosis.
abstract: Somatostatinomas are rare tumors; ampullary somatostatinomas are very rare. We report a case of a small pure somatostatin-producing neuroendocrine tumor of ampulla of Vater in a 54-year-old woman with neither neurofibromatosis nor somatostatinoma syndrome, "incidentally" discovered during an abdominal computed tomography. The patient initially refused other adjunctive exams but after 2 years she was admitted, presenting with itch, night sweats, severe fatigue, and unintentional weight loss. The size of the tumor (1.5 cm) and the other radiologic findings had not changed since the abdominal CT scan 2 years before. The somatostatin, gastrin, glucagons, serotonin, vasoactive intestinal peptide, dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, and calcitonin plasma levels were normal. ERCP-obtained biopsies revealed a neuroendocrine tumor with psammoma bodies; immunohistochemical profile was positive for chromogranin and somatostatin. The patient underwent surgery; intraoperative histologic examination of lymph nodes sampling of perihepatic and periduodenal lymph nodes was negative for metastasis. We performed, therefore, a transduodenal ampullectomy. The patient continues to do well at 3 years' follow-up with no evidence of local or distance recurrence of disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Ancona University Hospital, Ancona, Italy. gianmed@libero.it
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guercioni
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marmorale
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Siquini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fianchini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fianchini
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Landi
mesh_terms: D014670:Ampulla of Vater; D003138:Common Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033162:Incidental Findings; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D013005:Somatostatinoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013997:Time Factors