A Case of Pancreatic Simple Cyst with Calcification

Abstract

A 49-year-old woman was referred to our hospital on account of a suspected solid papillary neoplasm (SPN) after presenting at the referring hospital with complaints of abdominal distention and back pain. Contrast-enhanced CT of the abdomen showed a well-defined cystic lesion with peripheral calcification in the pancreatic tail, and T1-weighted MRI showed a heterogeneous low signal within the cystic lesion. A color doppler showed internal blood flow. Based on these findings, an SPN was suspected, and laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy was performed. Histopathology revealed a simple cyst covered with a single layer of squamous epithelia with little atypia, a fibrous cyst wall with calcification, and no pseudopapillary proliferation or ovarian-like stroma. Simple pancreatic cysts with calcifications are relatively rare and difficult to diagnose. However, clarification of the classification of non-neoplastic true cysts among pancreatic cystic diseases and unification of disease names are considered essential for differentiating diseases and clarifying pathophysiology.

We report a case of a simple pancreatic cyst with calcification that was difficult to differentiate from SPN.