1999 Volume 53 Pages 112-115
A 39-year-old male with a complain of general fatigue and jaundice was admitted to our hospital. Computed tomography, ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging and endoscopic ultrasonography showed an expanding thickness in the whole pancreas with swellings of several lymph nodes around the pancreas. We were not able to rule out pancreatic cancer or malignant lymphoma by these imagings.
To obtain a histological diagnosis, we performed biopsy of the pancreas under laparoscopic exploration. At the time of operation, we approached into the peritoneal cavity with an open laparoscopy method. Pneumoperitoneum was introduced and maintained at 8 mmHg during the operation. Then we prepared the spleen and the tail of the pancreas to raise from the retroperitoneum. We performed needle biopsy twice and wedge resection of the pancreas under direct vision. Histological diagnosis of the frozen section in the operation revealed no evidence of malignancy. The final diagnosis was chronic pancreatitis with fibrosis.
We have reported a case in which biopsy of the pancreas under laparoscopic exploration is useful to obtain the final diagnosis.
