Calcitonin-producing pancreatic somatostatinoma: Report of a case

A 59-year-old woman was hospitalized due to a 1-year history of diarrhea an d weight loss. Echography and computed tomography of the abdomen revealed a 10 x 7cm solid mass in the tail of the pancreas and gallstones, while sele ctive celiac angiography revealed the presence of a hypervascular mass. Hig h levels of somatostatin and calcitonin were detected in the plasma, 70 pg/ ml (normal range <28 pg/ml) and 5550 pg/ml (normal range 37 +/- 8 pg/ml), r espectively. This tumor was thus removed by means of a distal pancreatectom y and a splenectomy. After the pancreatic tumor was removed, the elevated l evels of plasma somatostatin and calcitonin returned to the normal ranges, and the persistent diarrhea also dramatically disappeared. A postoperative immunohistochemical study showed the tumor cells to be diffusely positive f or somatostatin and calcitonin, These results clearly indicate this patient to be a case of calcitonin-producing pancreatic somatostatinoma.