Pancreatic groove cancer

Pancreatic groove cancer is very rare and can be indistinguishable from groove pancreatitis. This study is to clarify the characteristics, clinical features, managements, and survival outcomes of this rare tumor. Brief descriptions were made for each case of pancreatic groove cancer encountered at our institute. Individualized data of pancreatic groove cancer cases described in the literature were extracted and added to our database to expand the study sample size for a more complete analysis. A total of 33 patients with pancreatic groove cancer were included for analysis, including 4 cases from our institute. The median tumor size was 2.7 cm. The most common symptom was nausea or vomiting (89%), followed by jaundice (67%). Duodenal stenosis was noted by endoscopy in 96% of patients. The histopathological examination revealed well differentiated tumor in 43%. Perineural invasion was noted in 90%, and lymphovascular invasion and lymph node involvement in 83%. Overall 1-year survival rate was 93.3%, and 3- or 5-year survival rate was 62.2%, with a median survival of 11.0 months. Survival outcome for the well-differentiated tumors was better than those of the moderate/poorly differentiated ones. Early involvement of duodenum causing vomiting is often the initial presentation, but obstructive jaundice does not always happen until the disease progresses. Tumor differentiation is a prognostic factor for survival outcome. The possibility of pancreatic groove cancer should be carefully excluded before making the diagnosis of groove pancreatitis for any questionable case.