Laparoscopic Enucleation of a Pancreatic Mucinous Cystadenoma

ABSTRACT

We report a case of a 52-year-old man in whom a cystic pancreatic tumor was successfully removed by laparoscopic enucleation. The patient had a followup CAT-scan for a resolving right upper lobe pneumonia which demonstrated a unilocular hypodense 3.9x2.2 cm sized cyst in the uncinate process of the pancreas. He had a laparoscopic biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch in July 2002, and also had laparoscopic cholecystectomy for cholelithiasis in December 2003. Laparoscopic intraoperative ultrasonography revealed a solitary cystic tumor in the inferior portion of pancreatic head. Laparoscopic enucleation of the tumor was performed using Ultracision(R) between the cyst outer wall and the normal pancreatic parenchyma. The operative time was 160 minutes, the estimated blood loss was 20 ml, and there were no perioperative complications. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful, and he was discharged on the first postoperative day. The histopathologic diagnosis showed a mucinous cystadenoma. We reported a new technique for safe management of small cystic tumors located on surface of the pancreas.