Antepartum diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma: a case report

A pregnant patient found to have primary carcinoma of the pancreas is discussed. The extreme rarity of this condition is emphasized. There are only a handful of cases reported in the world literature, and the diagnoses in these reports were made almost exclusively post partum. We could find only two reported cases in which the diagnosis was made ante partum, those by Gamberdella in 1984 and by Duff and Greene in 1985. The case we present demonstrates the difficult management decisions that arise when the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma is made in the midst of gestation.