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Updated: Dec 27, 2025
Robotic Enucleation of an Intra-Pancreatic Insulinoma in the Pancreatic Head
Published on: January 3, 2020
Treatment of Insulinomas by Laparoscopic Radiofrequency Ablation: Case Reports and Literature Review
Changyu Yao1, Xiangtao Wang2, Yongli Zhang2
1Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University, No. 5, Jingyuan Street, Beijing 100043, China.
Abstract:
Despite its rarity, insulinoma is the most common type of pancreatic endocrine neoplasm, with an occurrence of 1 to 5 per million per year in the population. Surgical resection or enucleation is the first line of curative treatment choice for insulinoma. Eight patients with symptomatic insulinomas treated by radiofrequency ablation have been described since 2009. In the past two years, we treated two patients with symptomatic insulinomas (one in the pancreatic tail and the other in the pancreatic neck) successfully using laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation. Both patients achieved complete elimination without any significant complications. Our study suggests laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation could be developed as a safe and effective alternative treatment to surgery for the patients with insulinomas who refuse or are not eligible for surgery.
