Squamous cell carcinoma of the pancreas: report of a case and review of the literature.

CONTEXT: Although, squamous metaplasia of the ductal columnar cells can be observed during periods of inflammation, squamous cell pancreatic carcinoma is an extremely rare tumour.

CASE REPORT: We present the case of a 72-year-old man who presented to our hospital with painless obstructive jaundice. After careful and adequate staging investigations that revealed a malignant mass in the head of pancreas he underwent a laparotomy which revealed an inoperable pancreatic cancer. Palliative bypass procedure was done. The biopsy specimens revealed a squamous cell cancer.

CONCLUSION

Pure squamous cell carcinoma of the pancreas is a very rare malignancy. In most cases it is not possible to make a pre-operative histological diagnosis and curative resection is unlikely because of dissemination at the time of initial diagnosis or laparotomy.