Duodenal somatostatinoma associated with Von Recklinghausen's disease

Somatostatinomas are rare, malignant, somatostatin-producing neuroendocrine tumors with a prevalence of one in 40 million. The coincidence of Von Recklinghausen's disease and duodenal somatostatinoma has been known since 1982. We report the case of a 57-year-old female patient with Von Recklinghausen's disease and a tumor of the pancreatic head that was diagnosed due to painless icterus. Histopathological examination after pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy revealed the existence of a duodenal somatostatinoma with lymph node metastases. Characteristics of the association of von Recklinghausen's disease and somatostatinoma, and therapy and prognosis will be discussed. In patients with Von Recklinghausen's disease and an ampullary tumor, a somatostatinoma should be considered. In contrast to its pancreatic counterparts, duodenal somatostatinoma is frequently associated with Von Recklinghausen's disease, often contains psammoma bodies, is rarely associated with a recognizable "somatostatin syndrome", and is hardly ever associated with demonstrable metastases at the time of diagnosis. Small tumors arising in the duodenum may be treated with local excision, whereas larger tumors should be treated by total excision, which may entail a partial pancreatoduodenectomy.