A case of pure hepatoid carcinoma of the pancreas

Abstract

A man in his 40s was referred to our hospital for further evaluation of a mass lesion in the pancreatic tail. He underwent laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy, and the lesion exhibited histological findings similar to hepatocellular carcinoma. Furthermore, immunohistological examination showed the tumor cells were positive for hepatocyte paraffin 1. Based on pathological findings of the resected specimen, the patient was diagnosed with pure hepatoid carcinoma (HC) arising from the pancreas. HC refers to an extra-hepatic neoplasm which is characterized by its serological, morphological, and immunohistological similarities to hepatocellular carcinoma. Pancreatic HC is rare, and the number of previously published case reports regarding pure pancreatic hepatoid carcinoma is less than 30 cases. Herein, we report this case with a review of additional such tumors in the literature to examine the clinical characteristics of pure pancreatic HC.