[Cystic neoplasms of the pancreas: report of 3 cases presenting diagnostic difficulties]

Cystic tumors of the pancreas are rare, although their detection has become more frequent with the advent of imaging techniques. In most cases, surgical exploration and often resection of the cystic neoplasm is necessary for establishing a definitive diagnosis; resection remains the treatment of choice. This paper describes three patients who underwent surgery because of cystic tumors of the pancreas. Abdominal pain was the main clinical manifestation; abdominal CT showed the cystic tumor in all three cases. Surgical exploration and resection was successfully accomplished in all. The definitive histological diagnoses were serous cystadenoma, multicystic hamartoma, and choriocarcinoma metastatic to the head of the pancreas. To our knowledge, the last two are the first ones with such diseases reported in the literature.