Acute pancreatitis in association with small cell lung carcinoma: potential pitfall in diagnosis and management

Tumour metastases to the pancreas are a rare but recognized cause of acute pancreatitis, there is a 24-40% incidence of pancreatic involvement from small cell lung cancer in autopsy series but only a very few cases of tumour-induced acute pancreatitis have been described. Chemotherapy has been advocated as the primary therapy in patients with known oat cell carcinoma who develop acute pancreatitis. We describe 2 patients with acute haemorrhagic pancreatitis in association with disseminated small cell carcinoma but without evidence of tumour invasion in the gland and with gall stones present in the gall bladder. Chemotherapy would have been inappropriate therapy for these patients.