Systematic review of 47 cases of primary small cell carcinoma of the pancreas

Objective To investigate the clinicopathologic features,therapy,and prognosis of primary small cell carcinoma of the pancreas.Methods Databases including Chinese Journal Full-text Database,VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals,Medline/Pubmed,and OVID were searched electronically up to April 2012.A systematic review was performed together with one case in our hospital.Results Twenty-eight articles fulfilling the criteria consisting of 46 patients with pathologically confirmed diagnosis of primary small cell carcinoma of the pancreas were studied,together with 1 patient in our Drum Tower Hospital,finally 47patients were included.The results of this systematic review showed:( 1 ) Primary small cell carcinoma of the pancreas was more common in men with a median age of 62.The most common clinical presentations were abdominal pain,jaundice and weight loss.Para-neoplastic syndrome was rarely observed.(2)Most cases were found to have abnormally elevated serum levels of neuron-specific enolase.CT displayed heterogeneous,and marked enhancing masses in most cases.The conclusive diagnosis depended on histological confirmation.(3)63.8％ of the cases were found to be associated with metastasis at the time of diagnosis.The overall median survival time was 28 weeks.(4) There was no consensus on the treatment of primary small cell carcinoma of the pancreas. Chemotherapy was currently considered as the treatment of choice among the systematic management for these patients.Conclusions Primary small cell carcinoma of the pancreas was a rare and aggressive neuroendocrine tumor with a poor prognosis. Key words: Neuroendorine tumors; Carcinoma, small cell; Pancreas; Meta-analysis