CLEAR-CELL CARCINOMA OF THE PANCREAS - AN ADENOCARCINOMA WITH DUCTAL PHENOTYPE

Aims: Primary clear cell carcinoma of the pancreas resembling metastat ic renal carcinoma has only rarely been described. To date it has been poorly characterized as a distinct tumour entity, Methods and results : We report a case of clear cell carcinoma in a 53-year-old man involv ing the head of the pancreas and which had a small intraductal papilla ry component. The clear cell portion comprised about 90% of the tumour mass. It showed predominantly a solid growth pattern with a few scatt ered tubular structures. Immunocytochemically the tumour cells stained positively for cytokeratins 7, 8, 18 and 19, whereas the reaction for vimentin and neuroendocrine markers was negative. It-ms analysis reve aled a point mutation at codon 12 with mutation of GGT to GAT. Conclus ion: The intraductal tumour component of this clear cell carcinoma as well as the cytokeratin pattern and the It-ms mutation suggest that th is rare type of pancreatic cancer has a ductal phenotype.