Pancreatic cysts caused by carcinoma of the pancreas: a pitfall in the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma.

Pancreatic cysts were diagnosed on computed tomography (CT) in 6 (8%) of 73 histologically proven pancreatic carcinomas. In three of a total of seven cases studied, the initial CT diagnosis was pancreatitis. The CT features of cysts secondary to pancreatic carcinoma were identical to those of pseudocysts in pancreatitis. All cases had masses of varying sizes suggestive of carcinoma or pancreatitis. Even in retrospect, two cases were difficult to differentiate from pancreatitis with pseudocysts. Our results indicate that whenever pancreatic cysts are encountered in patients of cancer age without a history of pancreatitis, further examinations including percutaneous aspiration biopsies should be performed to exclude malignancy.