Solid pseudopapillary tumour

A solid pseudopapillary tumour is a low-grade malignant neoplasm of the pancreas of papillary architecture that typically afflicts young women.

[2] Solid pseudopapillary tumours are often asymptomatic and are identified incidentally on imaging performed for unrelated reasons.

[3] The gold standard for diagnosing solid pseudopapillary tumour of the pancreas is cytopathology by endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) of the lesion.

[6] Necrosis is usually present and, as cell death preferentially occurs distant from blood vessels, lead to the formation of pseudopapillae.

[7][8] In most cases, solid pseudopapillary tumours should be resected surgically, as there is a risk of malignancy (cancer).

Papillae vs pseudopapillae: True papillae are outgrowths of epithelium, surrounding fibrovascular cores of stroma and at least one blood vessel. In contrast, pseudopapillae (such as in solid pseudopapillary tumours) are nests of proliferating cells that eventually grow to become almost back-to-back, with cells in the centers of nests disintegrating, leaving rims of cells lining the periphery of each nest. Discohesive cells and some formations lacking central blood vessels are visual clues.