Abstract
A 49-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with a cystic mass of 17mm in diameter at the head of the pancreas that had been noted on abdominal ultrasonography in her regular medical check-up. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography showed a low density mass with blood supply in the peripheral wall, and magnetic resonance imaging revealed that the mass was clearly cystic. Endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography showed no communication between the cystic mass and pancreatic ducts. After obtaining informed consent, a pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy was performed. The resected specimen showed a cystic tumor with bloody content smaller than 2.0cm with a thick fibrous capsule. The histological diagnosis was a non-functioning well-differentiated endocrine tumor (benign behaviour) . Although pancreatic cystic mass smaller than 2.0cm in diameter is often taken a wait-and-see approach closely without treatment, the treatment strategy has to be decided in a cautious manner because it might be potentially-malignant as our case.
