Microadenocarcinoma of the pancreas.
BACKGROUND
Microadenocarcinoma (MA) of the pancreas is a rare kind of neoplasm, whose status as an independent tumor entity is still a matter of controversy.


RESULTS
In this article we investigated two patients with MA from the histological, immunohistochemical and genetic aspects. Morphologically, MA is composed of small, crowded microglandular structures, forming a cribriform pattern, sometimes solid sheets. Cells of MA were morphologically uniform and were less pleomorphic than those of the ductal adenocarcinoma. Immunohistochemistry revealed that MA, though with a certain extent of epithelial differentiation, possesses a different immunological phenotype from those of ductal carcinoma, acinar cell carcinoma, and endocrine tumors. Genetic analysis showed no abnormality of p53, K-ras, and beta-catenin, which were usually mutated in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.


CONCLUSIONS
Therefore, we suggest that MA should be taken as an independent tumor entity rather than a kind of growth pattern, but a final decision should be reached after cautious differential diagnosis of other kinds of pancreatic neoplasms.
Chen
Ying
Y
Department of Pathology, Changhai Hospital, Shanghai, China.
Yu
Guanzhen
G
Ma
Dalie
D
Ni
Canrong
C
Zhu
Minghua
M
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational