Pre-operative diagnosis of synchronous solid-pseudopapillary neoplasms of the pancreas

We report the case of a 37-year-old woman with two synchronous solid-pseudopapillary neoplasms (SPNs) of the pancreas. The patient underwent abdominal echography as part of the screening for hepatitis C virus antibody positivity, and a pancreatic tail tumor was detected. She was referred to our hospital for further examination of the pancreatic tail tumor. There were two masses measuring 37 and 20 mm, in the pancreatic body and tail, respectively, which were slightly enhanced on abdominal computed tomography. On endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS), their surfaces were smooth, their margins were clear, anechoic spots were seen in the hypoechoic mass, and there were no lateral shadows. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a low- and high-intensity mass of the body and a low- and low-intensity mass of the tail on T1- and T2-weighted images, respectively. EUS-guided fine needle aspiration biopsy (EUS-FNA) suggested SPNs because the tumor cells showed an aberrant nuclear expression of β-catenin and loss of membranous staining of E-cadherin on immunohistochemical analysis. With a diagnosis of SPNs based on the EUS-FNA findings, a distal pancreatectomy was performed. On histopathologic examination of the resected specimen, the SPNs were arising synchronously.