Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Robotic Enucleation of an Intra-Pancreatic Insulinoma in the Pancreatic Head
Published on: January 3, 2020
[Clinicopathologic features and surgical treatment of nonfunctioning islet cell tumors (78 case report)]
Tai-ping Zhang1, Yu-pei Zhao, Yu Zhu
1Department of Surgery, Department of Pathology, PUMC Hospital, CAMS&PUMC, Beijing 100730, China.
Objective:
To investigate surgical treatment results and clinical pathological specifics in the treatment of non-functional islet cell tumor.
Methods:
To perform retrospective analysis of 78 cases of non-functional islet cell tumor treated at Peking Union Medical College Hospital from July 1968 through January 2005, and summarize clinical symptoms and signs, primary diagnosis before surgery, surgical treatment, pathologic specifics and immuno-histological analysis.
Results:
Of 78 cases, 27 cases (34.6%) was found in physical examinations, the most common symptoms was upper abdominal pain and upper abdominal discomfort, 30.7% (24 cases) and 26.9% (21 cases) respectively; the most common sign being abdominal masses 35.9% (28 cases). B-us and CT are most commonly used forms of preoperative examination, with positive rates being 98.6% (71/72), 100% (53/53) respectively. Operative mortality was 1.28%, Radical surgery of malignant cases with 5 year survival rate 75% (9/12). Immuno-histological examinations showed that tumors with multi peptide linked hormones 78.6% (55/70), a larger number of positive examinations of neuron specific enolase and chromaffin, 91.4% (32/35) and 79.4% (27/34) respectively. Insulin, glucagon, pancreatic polypeptide, somatostatin, vasoactive intestinal peptide and gastrin positive rates are 64.6% (42/65), 47.5% (22/53), 45.8% (22/48), 37.5% (21/56), 23.9% (11/46) and 22.6% (7/31).
Conclusions:
Non-functional islet cell tumor lack specificity, Bus and CT are primary examination methods, immuno-histological analysis indicates various different hormones, but lacks the presence of related clinical symptoms. Surgery is an effective form of treatment in the treatment of non-functional islet cell tumor, even with distal metastasis, immediate surgical removal and treatment, extend prognosis.

