[Clinico-anatomic characteristics of pancreatic cancer]

340 autopsy cases of pancreatic carcinoma from hospitals of St. Petersburg (1990-1991) and Petrozavodsk (1981-1990) have been studied (male/female proportion 1.1:1). The pancreatic head was involved in 75% of cases, including the head only in 61.3%, head and body in 12%, total organ involvement in 2.7%. Pancreatic carcinoma was combined with other tumors in 7 cases, including 4 cases of simultaneous combination. Histological types of carcinoma were represented by: adenocarcinoma (75.2%), undifferentiated carcinoma (10.9%), solid cancer (5.8%), mucosal (4.1%), squamous cell carcinoma (1.7%), glandular-squamous cell carcinoma (0.6%). Metastases occurred most frequently in the liver (52.6%) and lymph nodes (44.7%). Jaundice was registered in 39.1% of cases, primarily in cases of carcinomatous head involvement, and in 12.8% without such involvement (most frequently with metastases to the portal lymph nodes of the liver). Diabetes mellitus was diagnosed in 18 (5.3%) patients, but only in 4 of them as a consequence of pancreatic carcinoma. The diagnosis was found missed in 48% of patients.