Adenoacanthoma (adenosquamous carcinoma) of the pancreas

✍ Scribed by Robert W. Cihak; Taketsugu Kawashima; Arthur Steer

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1972
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 917 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(197205)29:5<1133::aid-cncr2820290503>3.0.co;2-4

✦ Synopsis

Four cases of adenoacanthoma of the pancreas were collected and the literature reviewed. T h i s uncommon histologic variant appears as aggressive and malignant as the more common adenocarcinomas. Two of these four cases had originally been diagnosed as squamous cell carcinomas and were shown to be adenoacanthoma in type after additional sections were examined microscopically. I t is the authors' opinion that any squamous cell carcinoma of the pancreas must be thoroughly examined for adenocarcinomatous elements before it can be classified as being pure squamous in type. Also, because metastases may be predominantly of either squamous or adenomatous type, the presence of squamous carcinoma in a metastatic lesion does not eliminate the possibility of a pancreatic primary nor does the finding of two distinct histologic types of metastases necessarily imply two separate primary malignancies. The terminology and origin of this histologic type of pancreatic tumor are discussed.

RIGINALLY W E INTENDED TO REPORT THE 0 characteristics of a squamous carcinoma of the pancreas found at an autopsy performed by one of us and an additional case in the ABCC autopsy files. However, as we reviewed the literature and reexamined our material, it became evident that our diagnoses were at fault and, more important, that a similar error might underlie some of the relatively few reported cases of squamous carcinoma of the pancreas in the literature. It was only after extensive sampling of the tumors in our cases that we were able to demonstrate the presence of unequivocal malignant glandular elements in these two predominantly epidermoid carcinomas. The ABCC autopsy files contained two additional pancreatic carcinomas which showed mixtures of squamous and adenomatous features.