CYSTIC NEOPLASM OF THE PANCREAS - REPORT OF 3 CASES OF DIFFICULT DIAGNOSIS

Cystic tumors of the pancreas are rare, although their detection has b ecome more frequent with the advent of imaging techniques. In most cas es, surgical exploration and often resection of the cystic neoplasm is necessary for establishing a definitive diagnosis; resection remains the treatment of choice. This paper describes three patients who under went surgery because of cystic tumors of the pancreas. Abdominal pain was the main clinical manifestation; abdominal CT showed the cystic tu mor in all three cases. Surgical exploration and resection was success fully accomplished in all. The definitive histological diagnoses were serous cystadenoma, multicystic hamartoma, and choriocarcinoma metasta tic to the head of the pancreas. To our knowledge, the last two are th e first ones with such diseases reported in the literature.