ABSTRACT
AIM: To present our experiences in studying the clinicopathological features of small nonfunctioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NF-pNETs). METHODS: The subjects included 9 patients with NF-pNETs who underwent pancreatectomy between April 1996 and September 2012. The surgical procedure, histopathological findings, and prognosis were assessed. RESULTS: All tumors were incidentally detected by computed tomography. The median diameter was 10 mm (5-32 mm). One patient was diagnosed with von Hippel-Lindau disease, and the others were sporadic cases. For the histopathological findings, 7 patients were G1; 1 patient was G2; and 1 patient, whose tumor was 22 mm, had neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC). One patient who had a tumor that was 32 mm had direct invasion to a regional lymph node and 1 patient with NEC, had regional lymph node metastases. Six of the 7 patients with sporadic NF-pNETs, excluding the patient with NEC, had tumors that were smaller than 10 mm. Tumors smaller than 10 mm showed no malignancy and lacked lymph node metastasis. CONCLUSION: Sporadic NF-pNETs smaller than 10 mm tend to have less malignant potential. These findings suggest that lymphadenectomy may be omitted for small NF-pNETs after further investigation.
