A Case of Macrocystic Serous Cystadenoma of the Pancreas

Naoki Futamura, Atsuyoshi Onitsuka*, Takuya Yamada**, Takashi Sekino**, Hiroshi Matsuo**, Toshiyuki Miyahara** and Shigeru Kiyama**

Department of Surgery, Gujo City Hospital
Department of Surgery, Gifu Red Cross Hospital*
Department of Advanced Surgery, Gifu University School of Medicine**

We report a case of macrocystic serous cystadenoma (MSCA) presenting as a unilocular cyst. A 26 year-old woman with a fist-sized mass in the left hypochondrium had no past history of pancreatitis or abdominal trauma. Laboratory data showed no significant abnormalities. Abdominal US, CT, and MRI showed a 5.0-cm, unilocular cystic mass in the tail of the pancreas. Endoscopic retrograde pancreatography showed no communication between the main pancreatic duct and the cyst. Abdominal arteriography showed displacement of the splenic artery. Surgery conducted under a diagnosis of mucinous cystadenoma of the pancreas and showed a fist-sized cystic tumor in the tail of the pancreas, necessitating resection of the tail of the pancreas. The resected 6.0×5.5×4.5 cm sized unilocular cystic mass contained yellow serous fluid. On microscopic examination, the cyst was lined with a single layer of cuboidal epithelium. Periodic acid-Shiff staining, with and without diastase digestion, showed abundant glycogen within epithelial cells, yielding a definitive diagnosis of MSCA.

Key words
serous cystadenoma, macrocystic, pancreatic cyst

Reprint requests
Naoki Futamura Department of Surgery, Gujo City Hospital
1264 Shimatani, Hachiman-cho, Gujo, 501-4222 JAPAN

Accepted
January 25, 2006

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