Acinar cell cystadenoma of the pancreas: A retrospective analysis of ten-year experience from a single academic institution

Background/objective Acinar cell cystadenoma (ACA), also referred to as “acinar cystic transformation”, is a rare and newly recognized cystic lesion of the pancreas displaying apparent acinar cell differentiation with benign outcomes. We summarized our experience with the diagnosis, clinicopathologic feature, treatment and prognosis of ACA to provide a reference for the disposal of this uncommon condition. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data from eight patients with ACA treated in our hospital between March, 2005 and January, 2015. Results Among eight patients, five of whom were female and the age at diagnosis ranged from 33 to 67 years (mean, 49.8 y). The most commonly clinical symptom was abdominal pain. Eight lesions were unifocal and either unilocular (n = 5) or multilocular (n = 3) with average size of 10.5 cm (range, 5.1–19.7 cm). All the patients were treated surgically and a definite diagnosis of ACA was obtained by the histopathological, histochemical and immunohistochemical tests. The length of stay range was from 11 to 17 days and there were no perioperative deaths. At a median follow-up of 57.3 months, all the patients were alive and there was no evidence of recurrence, distant metastasis or malignant transformation. Conclusions Appropriately preoperative differential diagnosis of ACA remains challenging and the final result is usually gained by the histopathology and immunohistochemistry. Although the origin of ACA is still contradictory, surgery is actively advocated as the most effective method for relieving the symptoms and preventing the tumor from local extension or malignant transformation so as to obtain an optimal long-term survival.