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Calcified liver metastases from a non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor

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Abstract

Neuroendocrine tumors consist of a spectrum of malignancies that arise from neuroendocrine cells throughout the body. Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors are rare tumors, with an incidence of 3.65 per 100,000 individuals per year, and they account for 1–2 % of all pancreatic neoplasms. A non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor with multiple liver metastases with calcifications was diagnosed in a 43-year-old female with diabetes mellitus. Early phase-enhanced computed tomography (CT) showed a hypovascular mass in the pancreatic body and tail with calcifications and multiple liver metastatic masses with calcifications. Percutaneous liver biopsy showed homogenous nuclear chromatins and tumor cells with acidophilic cytoplasm against the hyaline interstitium, and a non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor was diagnosed. An interesting clinical image of a metastasis from a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor is presented in which multiple liver tumors were accompanied by dystrophic calcifications. CT and percutaneous liver biopsy play an important role in the diagnosis of a non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, and are valuable diagnostic methods in planning treatment.

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Abbreviations

PNETs:

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

F-PNETs:

Functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

NF-PNETs:

Non-functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

HPF:

High-power fields

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Disclosures

Conflict of Interest

Terufumi Kawamoto, Tsunekazu Hishima and Kiminori Kimura declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human/Animal Rights

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008(5).

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hepatology, Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious Diseases Center, Komagome Hospital, 18-22-3 Honkomagome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8677, Japan

    Terufumi Kawamoto & Kiminori Kimura

  2. Division of Pathology, Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    Tsunekazu Hishima

Authors
  1. Terufumi Kawamoto
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  2. Tsunekazu Hishima
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  3. Kiminori Kimura
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kiminori Kimura.

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Kawamoto, T., Hishima, T. & Kimura, K. Calcified liver metastases from a non-functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor. Clin J Gastroenterol 7, 460–464 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12328-014-0525-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12328-014-0525-z

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