Korean Journal of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery  2000;4(1):191-195

Pheochromocytoma with pancreatic islet cell tumor: a case report.

Young Tae JU 1 ; Eun Jung JUNG ; Sun Hoo PARK ; Soon Chan HONG

Affiliations

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Keywords

pheochromocytoma; pancreatic islet cell tumor; MEN

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

Korean

Abstract

A 17-years old woman with a combination of unilateral pheochromocytoma and an asymptomatic islet cell tumor of the pancreas is presented. The unusual coincidence of pheochromocytoma and pancreatic islet cell tumor in the patient is of interest as a possible crossover between MEN I and MEN II. It has been suggested that MEN I represents an abnormality of the APUD(amine precursor uptake and decarboxylation) cells of ectodermal origin. However, the possibility of a common progenitor cell in the neural crest for all APUD cells has been suggested by Pearse and Polak(1971). Recent clinical reports suggest that overlap between the two syndroms may occur. The overlapping of elements of the classical endocrine neoplasia should alert clinicians to the possibility of such associations in any particular patients. Since islet cell tumors may occur in association with pheochromocytomas and may be clinically silent, exploration of the pancreas during surgery for pheochromocytomas would seem to be useful.