Imaging findings for pancreatic Hamartoma: two case reports and a review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic hamartoma is an extremely rare benign disease, and previous reports have provided little detail regarding its appearance in imaging. As a result, we report the imaging findings for two cases of pancreatic hamartoma. CASE PRESENTATION: One 57-year-old female patient and one 69-year-old male patient presented with pancreatic lesions incidentally detected by US; CT and MRI revealed a 2.9-cm cystic and solid lesion and a 1.4-cm solid lesion, respectively. US showed a hypoechoic well-defined mass in the pancreatic head. The plain CT indicated that the internal density was uneven, and the lesions showed obvious progressive enhancement. The MRI-T2WI showed iso- to high-intensity, the DWI showed iso-intensity, and the masses also all showed obvious progressive enhancement. Histopathological studies confirmed the diagnosis of pancreatic hamartoma. CONCLUSION: Pancreatic hamartoma is an extremely rare tumour with benign features, such as no dilatation of the MPD and well-defined, slight hyperintensity or iso-intensity on T2WI and iso-intensity on DWI, with obvious progressive enhancement. Therefore, detailed review of multiple imaging modalities may help in diagnosis of PH and prevent unnecessary surgery for patients with this diagnosis.