Potentially curable masses in the pancreas.

Twenty patients with intraabdominal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma localized to the peripancreatic area were reviewed. Appropriate diagnosis and staging required exploratory laparotomy and biopsy. With appropriate chemotherapy and radiotherapy, 40 percent of these patients were alive 3 years after diagnosis without evidence of disease. It is for this reason that we have adopted an aggressive approach in obtaining histologic diagnoses for all pancreatic masses.