Pancreatic Adenosquamous Cell Carcinoma with Solitary Liver Metastasis Showing Different Imaging Features

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies in the world and is the fourth highest cause of cancer deaths in the United States. According to the 2008 annual report of cancer statistics in Korea, malignant pancreatic cancer has the ninth highest incidence rate with a relative 5-year survival rate of 7.6%. The most common pancreatic histologic subtype is adenocarcinoma, which has a poor survival rate and accounts for 80-85% of pancreatic tumors. In contrast, adenosquamous cell carcinoma is a very rare and more aggressive subtype that accounts for 1-4% of all exocrine malignancies of the pancreas (1). The prognosis of pancreatic adenosquamous cell carcinoma is worse than that of invasive ductal adenocarcinoma: merely 1.6-9.8 months. Multidisciplinary treatments including aggressive surgery, intraoperative radiation therapy, and locoregional chemotherapy have also been reported to improve the survival of patients to inhibit liver metastasis and local recurrence especially for advanced unresectable or metastatic tumors. Among these treatments, surgical resection offers the only possibility for improved survival in resectable tumors, statistically significantly (2). Nontheless, the overall survival is more dismal than that of invasive adenocarcinoma. Although adenosquamous carcinoma of the pancreas is a rare subtype, it is important to accurately diagnose it based on radiologic findings considering its dismal prognosis and evaluate the operability. Here, we report the imaging findings related to pancreatic adenosquamous cell carcinoma with solitary liver metastasis in a 56-year-old patient and review the literature. INTRODUCTION Pancreatic Adenosquamous Cell Carcinoma with Solitary Liver Metastasis Showing Different Imaging Features