Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Outcomes of Pediatric Pancreatic Solid Pseudopapillary Tumors: A Single-Center Experience.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to evaluate clinical characteristics, surgical management approaches, and long-term outcomes of pediatric patients with histopathologically-confirmed pancreatic solid pseudopapillary neoplasm (SPN) at a single tertiary center over 10 years.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

A retrospective review was conducted of 16 pediatric patients with pancreatic SPN who were treated at the hospital between 2015 and 2025. Data on demographics, clinical presentation, imaging, surgery, pathology, and follow-up were analyzed.

RESULTS

Among the 16 patients, 15 were female and 1 was male, with a median age of 14 years (range: 7-16). Abdominal pain was the most frequent presenting symptom (n=12) and other presentations included jaundice, abdominal swelling, or amenorrhea, while 2 patients reported no symptoms. The pancreatic head was the most common tumor site (n=9), and the median tumor size was 5 cm (range: 1-14 cm). Surgical procedures included enucleation (n=10), distal pancreatectomy (n=3), and the Whipple procedure (n=3). Despite positive surgical margins in 9 patients, only 2 experienced local recurrence. No patients received adjuvant therapy. Postoperative complications occurred in 2 cases. One patient developed papillary thyroid carcinoma during follow-up. The median follow-up duration was 50 months (range: 2-108), and all patients were alive and all but one are disease-free at the last evaluation.

CONCLUSION

Pediatric pancreatic SPN predominantly affects adolescent girls and often presents incidentally. Surgical resection yields excellent long-term outcomes even in the presence of positive margins. Continued follow-up is essential due to potential recurrence and rare secondary malignancies.