Black pancreatic neuro-endocrine tumor: A rare finding

Abstract

Pigmented lesions most commonly encountered in any organ are due to deposition of melanin in primary or metastatic malignant melanoma. Other less common pigments are lipofuscin and neuromelanin. Lipofuscin and neuromelanin are usually associated with benign lesions. Differentiating melanin from lipofuscin and neuromelanin is important as the former is usually associated with malignancy. However, melanin can occur in benign lesion also. All there pigments are differentiated by histopathological examination, histochemical stain, and immunohistochemistry. Black pigment is associated with black adenoma of the adrenal gland, neuro-endocrine tumor of lung, and foregut; however, it is rarely seen in neuro-endocrine tumor of the pancreas. We report a case of 61-year-old male patient with neuro-endocrine tumor of the pancreas associated with extensive deposition of black-colored melanin pigment.

Keywords

• Lipofuscin
• melanin
• neuromelanin
• pancreatic neuro-endocrine tumor