Small cell lung carcinoma represents a group of highly malignant tumors giving rise to early and widespread metastasis at the time of diagnosis.However, the pancreas is a relatively infrequent site of metastasis by this neoplasm, and there are only occasional reports on its fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology diagnosis.A 66-year-old man presented with extensive mediastinal lymphadenopathy and a mass in the pancreatic tail.
Ultrasound-guided FNA smears from Television Circuit Boards the pancreatic mass contained small, round tumor cells with extensive nuclear molding.The cytodiagnosis was Plastic Food Pans metastatic small cell carcinoma.Immunocytochemical staining showed that a variable number of neoplastic cell were positive for cytokeratin, chromogranin A, neurone-specific enolase and synaptophysin but negative for leukocyte common antigen.
The trans-bronchial needle aspiration was non-diagnostic, but biopsy was suspicious of a small cell carcinoma.This case represents a rare metastatic lesion in the pancreas from small cell lung carcinoma, diagnosed by FNA cytology.