Diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic carcinoma with the first symptom of acute and chronic pancreatitis / 中华消化外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic carcinoma with acute and chronic pancreatitis as the initial symptoms.Methods The clinical data of 13 patients with pancreatic carcinoma who were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University and the Affiliated Central Hospital of Dalian Medical University from January 2003 to June 2014 were retrospectively analyzed.The first symptoms were acute and chronic pancreatitis.Laboratory and imaging examinations were carried out on all the patients,and the treatment plan was designed according to the location and stage of the tumor as well as the patient's wishes.Surgery,radiotherapy,chemotherapy and other symptomatic treatment were selected.All the patients were followed up by telephone interview till July 2014.Results The major symptoms included abdominal pain and lumbodorsal pain (7 patients).Of the 13 patients,1 patient refused to received laboratory examination,and the levels of CA19-9 of the other 12 patients were elevated (the levels of CA19-9 of 11 patients were above 1 × 105 U/L).The levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) of 5 patients were elevated.Thirteen patients received plain or enhanced abdominal computed tomography (CT),3 received magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and 3 received sonography.The tumors located at the head of the pancreas wcrc observed in 9 patients,tumors located at the neck of the pancreas was observed in 2 patients,and tumors located at the tail of the pancreas were observed in 2 patients.The sizes of the tumors ranged between 1.7 cm × 1.7 cm and 4.9 cm × 4.8 cm.The common bile duct,intrahepatic bile duct and pancreatic duct of 7 patients were dilated.The superior mesenteric vein of 3 patients were invaded by the tumor.The lymph nodes of 4 patients were swollen,and 3 patients had peritoneal effusion.The results of CT confirmed that 2 patients were with cholecystolithiasis,and the results of magnetic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) confirmed that 1 patient had choledocholithiasis.The size of he pancreas of all the patients were increased using ultrasonography,and the main pancreatic ducts of 2 patients were dilated.Ten patients were diagnosed as with advanced pancreatic carcinoma.All the patients were staged by the imaging findings,5 patients belonged to stage Ⅱ and 8 belonged to stage Ⅳ.Two patients underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy,and 1 of them underwent postoperative radiotherapy and chemotherapy,and the other patient underwent palliative biliary enteric anastomosis and gastrojejunostomy.Two patients were treated by chemotherapy and 1 by radiotherapy in the 10 patients who did not received surgery.The rest 7 patients were treated with symptomatic therapy.The pathological results of the 2 patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy were both moderately and poor-differentiated adenocarcinoma,and the size of the tumors were 4.0 cm × 3.0 cm × 2.5 cm and 2.5 cm × 2.0 cm × 1.0 cm.Three patients lost to follow-up among the 13 patients.The survival time of the patients with acute pancreatitis as the initial symptom ranged from 2.0 months to 6.0 months,and the median survival time was 4.5 months.The survival time of the patients with chronic pancreatitis as the initial symptom ranged from 0.5 months to 10.0 months,and the median survival time was 3.0 months.The median survival time of the 4 patients with elevated level of CEA was 3.5 months,and the median time of the 5 patients with normal level of CEA was 5.4 months.All the 10 patients who were followed up died of tumor recurrence and metastasis.Conclusion The clinical presentation of patients with acute and chronic pancreatitis as the initial symptoms is atypical,and it is difficult to achieve early diagnosis.Dynamic monitoring and combined diagnosis with laboratory and imaging examinations will improve the accuracy of diagnosis.Surgery based treatment is the preferred option.