Solid Pseudopapillary Tumor of the Pancreas with Asynchronous Liver Metastasis and an Anticipated Poor Prognosis because of Low Immunohistochemical Expression of Galectin-3

Hajime Morohashi, Yoshikazu Toyoki, Yoshihito Nakayama, Keinosuke Ishido, Daisuke Kudo, Shunji Narumi and Kenichi Hakamada

Department of Surgery, Hirosaki University School of Medicine

We report a case of solid pseudopapillary tumor (SPT) of the pancreas, a 59-year-old woman seen for an abdominal mass initially diagnosed as a pancreatic tumor underwent subtotal pancreatectomy. The tumor was diagnosed pathologically as SPT, immunostaining show low galection-3 expression, reportedly indicating poor prognosis. Careful follow-up including computed tomography (CT) found liver metastasis two years and three months later necessitating partial liver resection. The second tumor was diagnosed pathologically as liver metastasis from SPT. Despite a generally good prognosis, metastasis occurs in about 15% of SPT cases, although no consensus has been reached on the malignant potential of SPT. Galectin-3 is thus a useful marker of malignant potential.

Key words
solid-pseudopapillary tumor, galectin-3, liver metastasis

Reprint requests
Hajime Morohashi Department of Surgery, Hirosaki University School of Medicine
5 Zaifu-cho, Hirosaki, 036-8562 JAPAN

Accepted
March 24, 2010

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