A rare tumour of pancreas-Case report.

INTRODUCTION

Pancreatic schwannomas are very rare neoplasm arising from Schwann cells that present in the nerve sheath. Schwannoma usually occur in the extremities but can also be found in the trunk, head and neck, retroperitoneum, mediastinum, pelvis and rectum.

PRESENTATION OF CASE: We briefly describe a 30-year-old female patient with upper abdominal pain and on examination by ultrasound and Computed tomography of abdomen revealed a solid tumor arising from body of the pancreas. A laparoscopic splenic vessel preserving distal pancreatectomy (kimura) was performed.

DISCUSSION: Approximately only 50 cases reported in the literature and none of these cases were diagnosed as schwannoma preoperatively. CT scan is often useful to establish pancreatic lesion which usually demonstrate hypodense lesion with encapsulation

CONCLUSION

Although the incidence of pancreatic schwannoma is low, it must be considered as one possibility in the differential diagnosis of mass lesions in the pancreas and whenever possible especially in large tumors surgical resections should be considered due to increased chance of transformation to malignancy.