Radiology Case Reports (Oct 2019)

Undifferentiated carcinoma of the pancreas with osteoclast-like giant cells showing intraductal growth and intratumoral hemorrhage: MRI features

  • Keisuke Sato, MD,
  • Hiroshi Urakawa, MD,
  • Keiko Sakamoto, MD,
  • Emi Ito, MD,
  • Yoshihiro Hamada, MD,
  • Kengo Yoshimitsu, MD, PhD

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 10
pp. 1283 – 1287

Abstract

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We report a case of undifferentiated carcinoma of the pancreas with osteoclast-like giant cells ocalized within the main pancreatic duct (MPD). A 61-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for evaluation of dilatation of the MPD that was detected on screening sonogram. Preoperative MR imaging revealed a small hypervascular tumor within the dilated MPD, showing high signal on R2* map and signal reduction on in-phase as compared to out-of-phase. R2* hyperintensity and in-phase signal reduction may be a characteristic feature of undifferentiated carcinoma of the pancreas with osteoclast-like giant cells, which indicates intratumoral hemorrhage even if they are small. Keywords: Undifferentiated carcinoma of the pancreas with osteoclast-like giant cells, Intratumoral hemorrhage, Intraductal growth, R2* map, Chemical-shift imaging