Clinicopathologic study on pancreatic groove carcinoma

Pancreatic groove carcinoma usually presents with duodenal stenosis. This report describes the clinicopathologic features of 5 cases.

All the clinical and radiological features were reviewed retrospectively and analyzed to identify correlations with the histological findings.

Vomiting was an initial symptom in all cases, but obstructive jaundice was not inevitable until the disease progresses. Hypotonic duodenography demonstrated severe postbulbar stenosis. Pathological findings of biopsy specimens showed no evidence of malignancy at the early stage. Computed tomography revealed a hypovascular mass. Magnetic resonance imaging indicated a hypointense mass on T1-weighted images and an isointense to slightly hyperintense mass on T2 images. Macroscopically, the stenosis seemed to be the result of a hard yellowish-white tumor invading the duodenal wall. Histopathologically, an adenocarcinoma arising from the groove infiltrated the submucosal layer of the duodenum circumferentially. No cancer cells were found in the mucosa at the early stage. The intrapancreatic common bile duct was involved at the advanced stage.

We believe that these features resulted from the anatomical characteristics of the groove involvement and that the string stricture of the duodenum resulted from invasion of the groove tumor into the submucosal layer around the wall.