Treating benign pancreatic tumors

Procedure

Some tumors in the pancreas carry an increased risk of becoming malignant from the outset and thus triggering cancer. Examples include mucinous cystadenoma , which can develop into mucinous cystadenocarcinoma, and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasia (IPMN). Doctors must always assess exactly how high this risk is. You should therefore have experience with this type of tumor. In these cases, an operation is advisable in which surgeons remove the tumor as completely as possible. In this way, the risk of degeneration can usually be averted.

The insulinoma causes a number of symptoms, some of them very severe, as it grows. The tumor produces increasing amounts of the blood sugar-lowering hormone insulin, which enters the bloodstream. This causes the blood sugar level to drop sharply and, in the worst case, there is a risk of fainting and unconsciousness. Doctors must treat the insulinoma to prevent consequences for the body and mind. They remove the insulinoma during an operation. They do this by peeling the tumor out of the pancreatic tissue. Enucleation is the name of this procedure. It is often possible to peel out the tumor during a laparoscopy. The procedure is minimally invasive (“keyhole surgery”) and a large abdominal incision (open surgery) is not necessary.

Only very rarely is a comprehensive surgical procedure necessary, such as Whipple’s surgery. This applies, for example, if a malignant tumor in the pancreas cannot be ruled out with certainty before the operation. The surgeon removes parts of the stomach, duodenum, pancreatic head, surrounding lymph nodes, gallbladder and the lower part of the common bile duct in one piece.

Surgical therapy

In the case of benign tumors, such as insulinomas, it is often sufficient to simply excise (enucleate) the tumor from the pancreatic tissue. If the location is favorable, these enucleations can also be performed via a minimally invasive, laparoscopic approach without the need for a large opening of the abdominal cavity.

In rare cases, Whipple’s surgery must also be performed for benign pancreatic tumors (see pancreatic cancer therapy). This is particularly the case if a malignant tumor cannot be ruled out before the operation.

As with malignant tumors, benign (predominantly hormone-producing) pancreatic tumors in particular require interdisciplinary clarification and treatment planning.

This is the only way to ensure that these procedures are now performed at specialized centers with an acceptable level of risk.

Certificate Publications