Two Cases of Nonfunctioning Islet Cell Tumor of the Pancreas

Masaki Doi, Tsugo Sakakibara, Makoto Katoh, Akeo Hagiwara, Tetsurou Yamane, Toshio Takahashi, Nobutsugu Fushiki*

First Department of Surgery and *Second Department of Pathology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine

We experienced two patients with nonfunctioning ilset cell tumor of the pancrease. In case 1, a 41-year-old woman was admitted with consultation of multiple pancreatic tumors from another hospital. Resected specimen after the pancreaticoduodectomy with resection of pancreatic body revealed three tumors located in the pancreatic head and body. Histopathological examination led to diagnosis of malignant islet cell tumor. In case 2, 24-year-old woman was admitted with further examination of left upper abdominal mass. As the tumor was extruded from surface of pancreatic tail, extirpation of the tumor was carried out. Histopathological diagnosis was islet cell tumor, but malignancy was not able to be ruled out. As in both cases any clinical syndromes due to hormonal hypersecretion were historycally not recoginized and pre-operative fasting plasma levels of insulin, glucagon and gastrin were normal, nonfunctioning islet cell tumors were suggested. In general it is well known that islet cell tumor is slow growing and has a relatively good prognosis if thought histopathological diangosis is malignant. In our two cases any findings of recurrence were also not seen one year and six months after the operation. So, we suggest that active surgical resection is important to control of islet cell tumor, even in case of multiple tumors.

Key words
nonfunctioning islet cell tumor, multiple islet cell tumor

Reprint requests
Masaki Doi First Department of Surgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine
456 Kajii-machi, Kawaramachi-Hirokoji Kamigyoku, Kyoto, 602 JAPAN

Accepted
September 12, 1990

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