Abstract:Objective To explore the diagnosis and treatment of nonfunctioning islet cell tumors.
Methods The clinical data of 16 patients with nonfunctioning islet cell tumor admitted from 1990 to 2006 were analyzed retrospectively.The tumor was located in the head of pancreas in 4 patients, and in the body or tail in 12 patients. The average diameter of the tumor was 12cm.
Results Six patients underwent tumor enucleation,3 patients were subjected to pancreatoduodenectomy, 3 patients underwent distal partial resection of tumor bearing pancreas with splenectomy, and 3 patients had distal partial resection of tumor bearing pancreas without splenectomy.The curative resection rate was 93.75%(15/16).There was no operative mortality.In one case the tumor was unresectable because of widespread of the tumor and the patient died 5 months later. At 2-16 years followup, the 11 cases with benign tumor were alive. In 3of 4 cases with malignant tumor who underwent resection, the survival time was 1,2 and 6 years, respectively, and the other case has survived for 12 years and 8 months.
Conclusions Gastrointestinal barium meal exam,ultrasonography, CT, MRI and ERCP are essential for the diagnosis.Surgical resection is the treatment of choice for nonfunctioning islet cell tumors, and the outcome is satisfactory.