Anaplastic Carcinoma of the Pancreas Mimicking Submucosal Gastric Tumor: A Case Report of a Rare Tumor

Copyright © 2013 Michimasa Fujiogi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Anaplastic carcinoma of the pancreas (ACP) is a rare neoplasm of the pancreas. ACPs are aggressive neoplasms with a poorer prognosis than poorly differentiated ductal adenocarcinomas of the pancreas. The 3-year survival rate of patients with ACP is less than 3%, with a life expectancy of 10 to 20 months. We describe here a 64-year-old man with ACP mimicking a submucosal gastric tumor.The patient was found to have a giant mass mimicking a submucosal tumor. Total gastrectomy with splenectomy and partial resection of the tail of the pancreas were performed.The pathological diagnosis was ACP, with immunohistological findings showing pleomorphic-type ACP. Because the surgery was noncurative, the patient received adjuvant chemotherapy with paclitaxel but died of peritoneal dissemination and multiple liver metastases 4 months after surgery. 1