Infected Pancreatic Necrosis Mimicking Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract

Although infected pancreatic necrosis can develop as a result of rare conditions involving trauma, surgery, and systemic infection with an uncommon pathogen, it usually occurs as a complication of pancreatitis. Early phase of acute pancreatitis can be either edematous interstitial pancreatitis or necrotizing pancreatitis. The late complications of pancreatitis can be divided into pancreatic pseudocyst due to edematous interstitial pancreatitis or walled-off necrosis due to necrotizing pancreatitis. During any time course of pancreatitis, bacteremia can provoke infection inside or outside the pancreas. The patients with infected pancreatic necrosis may have fever, chills, and abdominal pain as inflammatory symptoms. These specific clinical presentations can differentiate infected pancreatic necrosis from other pancreatic diseases. Herein, I report an atypical case of infected pancreatic necrosis in which abdominal pain, elevation of white blood cell, and fever were not found at the time of admission. Rather, a 10-kg weight loss (from 81 to 71 kg) over 2 months nearly led to a misdiagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The patient was finally diagnosed based on endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration. This case highlights that awareness of the natural course of pancreatitis and infected pancreatic necrosis is important. In addition, endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration should be recommended for the diagnosis and treatment of indeterminate pancreatic lesions in selected patients.