DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i07.017

Pages: 2522-2526

Solid pseudo papillary tumor (SPN) is a unusual primary neoplasm of the pancreas that customarily affects young women. SPN accounts for less than 1% to 2% of exocrine pancreatic tumors. Most common presenting symptom is abdominal mass sometimes associated with dyspepsia, decreased appetite, and weight loss. Vomiting and nausea occur in few patients but they are less common presenting symptoms. Most patients present with indefinite, non-specific abdominal pain which results in delayed diagnosis. Asymptomatic tumors are seen in up to 25 % of cases and they are incidentally detected on imaging or at operation for some other unrelated pathological condition. Pancreatic SPNs are usually indolent tumors. The exact cell of origin is still disputed. Grossly, size of the tumor may range from 3.0 cm to more than 10 cm in diameter. The microscopic features show alternate variable solid areas with cystic component and pseudo papillary formations. Cells are usually polygonal with bland oval to round nuclei and eosinophilic cytoplasm. Various synonyms were used by various authors around the world, According to the author Kloppel G et al.; some of the synonyms used to describe SPPN are 1) solid cystic tumor 2) papillary cystic tumor 3) papillary epithelial neoplasia 4) solid and papillary epithelial neoplasia 5) papillary epithelial tumor 6) Frantz’s tumor 7) solid and papillary tumor 8) solid-cystic papillary epithelial neoplasm 9) benign or malignant papillary tumor of the pancreas. In the year 1996, World Health Organization (WHO) came up with the single nomenclature as Solid Pseudo Papillary Neoplasm (SPN).