Solid pseudopapillary tumour of the pancreas: an uncommon pancreatic tumour in Sri Lanka

Abstract

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Solid pseudopapillary tumour of the pancreas (PST) is a rare exocrine pancreatic tumour commonly involving the body and the tail of the pancreas. It's seen predominantly in young women. Even patients who present with metastatic disease have good survival after resection. We looked at our experience with this rare tumour. METHODS Prospectively collected proforma-based data were analysed.RESULTS 14 patients underwent surgery for PST from November 2011 to October 2022. 13 (93%) were females. The median age was 28 years (15-50). Nine (64.3%) patients presented with abdominal pain, and 3(21.4%) had an abdominal mass at presentation. Only 2(14.3%) patients were incidentally detected. The median tumour diameter was 7.2cm (218).7(50%) had involvement of the pancreatic body, 6(43%) had involvement of the head of the pancreas, and one had involvement of both the head and the body of the pancreas. Only one patient (7.14%) had liver metastasis at presentation. Distal pancreatectomy was performed in 6(43%), Whipple's pancreaticoduodenectomy in 6(43%), enucleation in 1(7.14%) and total pancreatectomy in 1(7.14%). In addition, liver metastasectomy was done in 1(7.14%) patient. There were no major complications. None received adjuvant treatment. At a median follow-up of 22 months, there were no recurrences. CONCLUSIONS PST in our cohort were in young females who had excellent survival after surgical resection. Involvement of the head of the pancreas was common compared to the predominantly distal disease in the available literature.