Signet-ring mucinous adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

An 88-year-old man presented symptoms and signs of ascending cholangitis and died 20 days after the onset of illness. Postmortem examination revealed a mucinous tumor arising from the head of the pancreas, encasing the common bile duct and invading the liver with multiple hepatic metastasis. The tumor showed a unique and uniform histological appearance, consisting of signet-ring neoplastic cells floating in mucin pools. The rapid clinical course and widespread hepatic metastasis of this patient suggest that this pure, signet-ring variant of mucinous adenocarcinoma of the pancreas might have a poorer prognosis.