Metastases-induced acute pancreatitis: a rare presentation of cancer.

Cancer as the etiology of acute pancreatitis is considered rare. Presented are three patients in whom acute pancreatitis was the first manifestation of malignancy due to primary or metastatic cancer within the pancreas. In one case, metastatic large cell bronchogenic carcinoma was found in the pancreas and in two patients non-Hodgkin's lymphoma confined to the pancreas induced the acute pancreatitis. One of the patients did not survive a severe acute pancreatitis, one died 8 months later due to metastatic lung carcinoma, and the third has been disease-free for the past 18 months following chemotherapy. Several reports described acute pancreatitis secondary to metastasis in the pancreas, mostly small cell lung carcinoma. It seems that the immediate survival of such patients depends on the severity of the pancreatitis. If this is overcome, specific chemotherapy could be beneficial.