Comments “Solid pseudopapillary neoplasia of the pancreas: a review”

Solid pseudopapillary neoplasm of the pancreas is a type of tumor that, since its initial description, in 1959, by Virginia Kneeland Frantz, caused a series of controversies regarding its biological behavior. Several names have been used to describe this singular disease in publications, among them, Frantz tumor, as a tribute to the eminent American pathologist. This fact, associated with the rarity of the disease, was one of the contributing factors for its true epidemiology to remain unknown in past decades.

It was, without a doubt, the progress of imaging methods associated with a better knowledge of histopathological techniques and, fundamentally, immunohistochemistry that made its diagnosis more frequent in recent years. Although its clinical presentation is not pathognomonic, it is usually a result of the neoplasia mass effect and, not rarely, its diagnosis is incidental. It affects mostly young women, although it has been described in different age groups; however, it rarely occurs in males.

There does not seem to be any controversy regarding the treatment of choice, which consists of surgical resection with margins. More recently, the need for lymphadenectomy has been discussed due to the description of ganglionar metastases in approximately 15% of cases.

Despite the advances regarding the knowledge about this neoplasia⁴, which is mostly from retrospective studies of series and case reports due to the low incidence of the condition, there are still gaps in respect to its cellular origin, etiopathogenesis, and, fundamentally, about the true biological behavior of the tumor.

REFERENCES

• ¹
  Frantz, V. (1959). Papillary tumors of the pancreas: benign or malignant. Frantz VK. Atlas of tumor pathology. Washington DC: US Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, 32-3.
• ²
  Naar L, Spanomichou DA, Mastoraki A, Smyrniotis V, Arkadopoulos N. Solid Pseudopapillary Neoplasms of the Pancreas: A Surgical and Genetic Enigma. World J Surg. 2017, 41: 1871. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-017-3921-y
  » https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-017-3921-y
• ³
  Zalatnai, A. & Kis-Orha, V. Pathol. Oncol. Res. (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-019-00671-8
  » https://doi.org/10.1007/s12253-019-00671-8
• ⁴
  Vera Lucia Chagas; Fernando Rosman; Maria da Gloria Carvalho; Solid Pseudopapillary Neoplasia of the Pancreas: a Review” Rev Assoc Med Bras, 2020. 66 (1) 87-94

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  27 Feb 2020
• Date of issue
  2020