Chemotherapy: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

Misdiagnosis of Groove Pancreatitis: A Case Report

Hou-wei Fu, Rui Zhang, Lei-bo Xu, Xian-huan Yu, Qi-bin Tang and Chao Liu

Groove Pancreatitis (GP) is a kind of chronic pancreatitis with a clear pathological diagnosis. It’s characterized by fibrotic scarring of the gastroduodenal groove, an anatomical area near the pancreatic head, duodenum and common bile duct (CBD). Its etiology is not clear. GP may be related to alcoholism, weight loss, biliary tract disease, pancreatic cysts and so on. Its incidence rate of GP is low and the diagnosis is difficult. The purpose of this essay is to report a case of GP. A 56-year-old woman is admitted to hospital with painless systemic jaundice as her only symptom and the symptom aggravated in two months. Both medical imagology (CT, MR, and MRCP) and serologic examination (cancer antigens (CA) 19-9) support the diagnosis of malignant cholangiocarcinoma; but, the results of electronic gastroscopy were basically normal. Surgeons had found no malignant tumor characteristics (irregular shape, adhesion, necrosis and so on) in the operation. However, Postoperative pathological results verified the intraoperative evaluation. Combined with postoperative pathological results, the surgeon's experience and reported in domestic and foreign literature, operators consider the patient should be diagnosed as GP. Making a definite diagnosis of GP requires a comprehensive analysis on discriminating with another disease like CBD carcinoma and pancreatic head carcinoma to prevent an over-treatment of patient.