Surgical therapy of a large pancreatic solid-pseudopapillary neoplasm during pregnancy

Solid-pseudopapillary neoplasms (SPNs) of the exocrine pancreas are rare, accounting for only 2% of pancreatic tumours. These tumours predominantly affect women during the second and third decades of life. They frequently present with vague symptoms and can pose a diagnostic challenge. Surgical resection remains the treatment of choice that can cure up to 95% of patients when negative resection margins are obtained. SPNs diagnosed during pregnancy are exceptional and with profound implications on the mother and fetus. The authors present a case of an asymptomatic SPN in a 24-year-old woman diagnosed at 14 weeks of gestation on a routine prenatal ultrasound. Distal pancreatectomy, splenectomy and cholecystectomy were successfully performed at 18 weeks of gestation. A healthy full-term male child was born 5 months following surgery without complications.