A Novel Treatment for Metastatic Serous Cystadenocarcinoma Using a Microwave Ablation: Case Report and Review of the Literature.

The incidence of pancreatic cystic neoplasms has grown because of increased detection. Among these lesions, serous cystadenoma was traditionally thought to be universally benign and indolent. However, there is an exceedingly rare malignant variant of serous cystadenoma known as serous cystadenocarcinoma (SCAC) that can exhibit local invasion into adjacent structures, hepatic implants, and metastatic spread to the abdominal viscera. Diagnosis of SCAC can be challenging as it is histologically identical to serous cystadenoma. To better understand this entity, a review of all published accounts of SCAC was performed in which tumor and patient factors were characterized. In addition, we present the case of a 49-year-old woman who was found to have a solitary hepatic metastasis due to SCAC, 11 years after a distal pancreatectomy for serous cystadenoma. She was successfully treated with percutaneous microwave ablation and has no evidence of recurrence 3 years later. This report details the first published account of percutaneous ablation in such a setting. Compared with hepatectomy, hepatic ablation may offer a less invasive but equally effective treatment option in well-selected patients.