Anaplastic carcinoma of the pancreas diagnosed by endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration: a case report and review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Anaplastic carcinoma of the pancreas is a rare pancreatic neoplasm with a poor prognosis. It is classified as a variant of ductal adenocarcinoma, but the clinical features and treatment of it remain unknown because of its rarity and aggressiveness. Endoscopic ultrasonography and endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration are useful techniques for the diagnosis of pancreatic tumors with high sensitivity and specificity. CASE PRESENTATION: A 72-year-old Japanese woman presented with a diagnosis of acute pancreatitis, and a cystic lesion with slightly high density area was observed by computed tomography in her pancreatic head. In addition, endoscopic ultrasound revealed a heterogeneous lesion. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration showed pleomorphic atypical cells. We diagnosed anaplastic carcinoma of the pancreas. We resected the lesion, and she has shown no sign of recurrence for > 6 months. There are few reports of anaplastic carcinoma of the pancreas diagnosed by endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration and treated by surgery. Our analysis indicates that anaplastic carcinoma of the pancreas is more likely than typical ductal carcinomas to have cystic lesions with the tumor. CONCLUSIONS: We report a case of anaplastic carcinoma of the pancreas diagnosed by endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration and subsequently resected with a clear margin. We speculate that anaplastic carcinoma of the pancreas is more likely to have cystic changes than pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. When we diagnose pancreas tumor as having cystic changes, anaplastic carcinoma of the pancreas should be considered one of the differential diagnoses.