Pancreas bifidum: an extremely rare cause of acute pancreatitis.

A wide spectrum of anomalies of the pancreas, the pancreatic ductal system and the biliary tree are commonly encountered at radiologic evaluation. Pancreas bifidum, also known as bifid pancreas or fish-tail pancreas, is an extremely rare congenital branching anomaly of the main pancreatic duct characterized by its duplication. These 2 separate ducts are laid from the pancreatic tail to neck and they generally join at the pancreas body-tail draining via the major papilla; the pancreatic parenchyma is also bifurcated with separated dorsal and caudal buds. The clinical impact of this condition is not well established: although some authors sustained that probably does not cause or contribute to abdominal pain or overt pancreatic diseases, others argued that could be considered as a possible cause of acute pancreatitis. We herewith describe the case of a 51-year-old woman presenting to our hospital with epigastric pain, nausea, and vomiting. Biochemical tests were suspicious for acute pancreatitis. Ultrasound examination was negative. MRI, including MR cholangiopancreatography revealed bifid pancreas characterized by duplication of the main pancreatic duct with 2 separate ducts that join at the pancreas head and draining via the minor papilla. On T2-weighted images the ventral bud of the pancreas was enlarged and characterized by slightly hyperintensity without peripancreatic fluid collections. The MRI findings were consistent with acute pancreatitis limited to the ventral bud of a bifid pancreas. Patient was treated with intravenous fluid resuscitation, pain control and institution of early enteral nutrition and discharged on the seventh day after admission.

Bilateral breast metastases as the first manifestation of an occult pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor.

Breast metastases are uncommon findings compared to primary breast cancer and in particular bilateral secondary breast lesions from neuroendocrine tumor (NET)s are extremely rare with just less over 13 cases described in literature. We reported herewith the case of a 54-year-old woman who presented to our Breast Unit after noticing multiple, mobile, bilateral breast lumps. Imaging studies confirmed the presence of multiple, circumscribed, bilateral breast masses with slightly spiculated margins, classified as suspicious for malignancy (BI-RADS 4). A tru-cut biopsy was carried out on the largest lesion of each side and histopathologic and immunohistochemistry examination was consistent with metastases from pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (PNET). Total-body CT revealed the presence of a mass located in the pancreatic body - tail with associated abdominal lymphadenopathies and multiple secondary nodules in bilateral breast and in the liver. Stage IV disease was diagnosed, patient did not undergo surgery and started LAR - octreotide therapy. Although rare, breast metastases from NETs represent an important diagnostic challenge for practitioners because of the difficulty to differentiate from a primary breast carcinoma or even from benign breast lesions. Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of bilateral breast metastases in differential diagnosis of breast lesions in order to ensure the correct diagnosis and the most appropriate management of these patients.