Clinicopathological study of solid and pseudopapillary tumor of pancreas: Emphasis on magnetic resonance imaging findings

AIM: To report the clinicopathological features and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of solid and pseudopapillary tumor (SPT) of pancreas.METHODS: From 1981 to 2005, 26 surgically treated cases of SPT were retrospectively reviewed. MRI findings of the latest 11 consecutive SPT cases were investigated.RESULTS: There were 25 women and one man having SPT (median age: 23 year) with a median tumor size of 7.5 cm. Among them, nine patients developed solid pseudopapillary carcinoma. During the median follow-up period of 66 mo, the 5-year survival rate of the 26 SPT patients was 96.2%. Three MRI features were proposed including Type 1 image, displaying SPT with completely solid part. All SPT patients with type 1 image were detected incidentally. Type 2 image displays of SPT with solid mass hemorrhage and type 3 image with massive hemorrhage. All the eight SPT patients with type 2 and 3 images suffered abdominal pain due to hemorrhage from SPT.CONCLUSION: SPT had a favorable survival rate irrespective of surgical procedures, malignancy, and MRI findings, however, MRI could reliably correlate with its clinicopathological features.