Mucinous cystadenoma of the pancreas with predominant stroma creating a solid tumor

Background: Mucinous cystic neoplasm (MCN) of the pancreas is basically cystic epithelial neoplasm, unilocular or multilocular, occurring almost exclusively in women. Case presentation: A 51-year-old female presented with a pancreatic mass incidentally found on the abdominal computed tomography. She underwent distal pancreatectomy. The sectioned surface of the pancreas revealed a circumscribed, whitish gray ovoid firm mass with some cystic spaces. Microscopically, glandular or small cystic structures were scattered in the predominant stroma creating a solid appearance. The subepithelial stromal component was composed of cytologically bland looking spindle cells, which resembled ovarian stroma. The stromal cells were reactive to CD 34, vimentin, progesterone receptor and calretinin. The microscopy was consistent with mucinous cystadenoma of the pancreas. Conclusion: This case of mucinous cystadenoma of the pancreas showed very interesting pathology: It was solid rather than cystic, and accompanied by abundant benign transitional epithelia, which was a very unusual and novel finding in the mucinous cystic neoplasm of the pancreas. © 2005 Ae Lee; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.