Rare case of metastatic small cell carcinoma of the nasopharynx to the pancreas.

Jonathan Teinor, Lara Groshek, Jin He

BMJ case reports 2020 Jun 09

filter terms:

We present a 49-year-old woman with a history of an unresectable nasopharyngeal small cell carcinoma (SCC) who was treated with concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy. On surveillance positron emission tomography scan 14 months after diagnosis, her primary tumour appeared stable, but there was fludeoxyglucose uptake in the pancreas. A CT scan demonstrated a 3.4×2.1 cm ill-defined soft tissue mass at the tail of the pancreas, which was concerning for adenocarcinoma. However, further workup including endoscopic ultrasound and fine needle aspiration confirmed the mass to be a metastasis from her nasopharyngeal SCC. Because there have been no previously reported cases of a metastatic small cell carcinoma to the pancreas, there are no data about prognosis. Thus treatment options were tailored to the patient. Distal pancreatectomy, splenectomy and cholecystectomy were performed. The patient recovered from surgery without complication. © BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Citation

Jonathan Teinor, Lara Groshek, Jin He. Rare case of metastatic small cell carcinoma of the nasopharynx to the pancreas. BMJ case reports. 2020 Jun 09;13(6)