title: Small multicentric pancreatic carcinoma usefully diagnosed by positron emission tomography.
abstract: Pancreatic carcinoma has a poor prognosis, and early detection is essential for potentially curative resection. Despite a wide array of diagnostic tools, pre-operative detection of small pancreatic carcinomas is difficult. We report a case of pancreatic carcinoma that was bicentric and small. The head mass was diagnosed by computed tomography (CT), while the tail mass, which was suspected but indeterminate on CT, was diagnosed by positron emission tomography (PET). Thus, total pancreatectomy was performed. The PET results prevented our patient from undergoing tail mass biopsy, multiple surgeries and non-curative operation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kagoshima Tokushukai Hospital, 3-8-1 Shimoarata, Kagoshima, 890-0056, Japan. Kamikado@kanazawa-med.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Chiaki
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kamikado
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Kagoshima University School of Medicine, Kagoshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Kouji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takumi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kagoshima Tokushukai Hospital, 3-8-1 Shimoarata, Kagoshima, 890-0056, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomomi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wakiyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kagoshima Tokushukai Hospital, 3-8-1 Shimoarata, Kagoshima, 890-0056, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Kagoshima Tokushukai Hospital, 3-8-1 Shimoarata, Kagoshima, 890-0056, Japan.
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sawatani
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Kagoshima Tokushukai Hospital, Kagoshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazunari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kitazono
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Fukuoka Tokushukai Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Takahisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Pathology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Shuuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taguchi
keywords: Fusion positron emission tomography; Multicentric carcinoma; Pancreas carcinoma