Incidental Pancreatic Lipomas: A Case Series on 64 Slice MDCT done for Different Pathologies

Abstract

Pancreatic lipomas are rare benign lesions, with only 50 cases being documented in the current literature to the best of our knowledge. We describe four cases of intrapancreatic lipomas from a single institution, all incidentally found using multi detector computed tomography within a 6-month period. Computed tomography depicted lipomas as homogeneous, nonenhancing, well-marginated lesions with a density coefficient consistent with adipose tissue. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/njr.v1i1.6318 Nepalese Journal of Radiology Vol.1(1): 23-26

Pancreatic Lipomas – Prevalence in Patients Undergoing Abdominal CT

“…The established high prevalence of pancreatic lipomas is in accordance with the observations of Stadnik et al and Dwivedi et al, who suggested that pancreatic lipomas may be more common than reported before [ 1 , 2 ]. However, that high prevalence is in clear contrast to the relatively small number of case reports in the literature, and this discrepancy needs to be explained.…”

“…Lipomatous pseudohypertrophy of the pancreas is characterized by replacement of pancreatic tissue by fat and enlargement of the parenchyma, clinically accompanied by exocrine pancreas insufficiency [6]. Like in our case series, most pancreatic lipomas are incidentally found during abdominal cross-sectional imaging [1,2,7]. Symptomatic pancreatic lipomas due to obstruction of the biliary tracts have been reported and may require surgery [5].…”

“…Those cases were collected during a 6-year period and the authors speculated that this entity may be more common than previously thought. In a 6-month period Dwivedi et al found 4 pancreatic lipomas in patients undergoing abdominal CT at their department and they concluded that pancreatic lipomas seem not to be a rare tumour [ 2 ]. However, until now, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no systematic study examining the prevalence of lipomas, which is thus unknown.…”

CT Finding of Pancreatic Lipoma: A Case Report

“…They stated that the lipoma dimensions were 1.7 x 1.9 cm, 2.5 x 1.7 cm, 0.9 x 0.9 cm, 1.2 x 1.2 cm, 0.4 x 1.5 cm. Dwivedi et al (2011) found 4 pancreatic lipomas as a result of 6-month screening. They reported that the lipoma dimensions were 0.4 x 0.8 x 1.1 cm, 1.1 x 1.7 x 1.8 cm, 0.6 x 0.8 x 0.7 cm, 1.1 x 1.2 x 1.3 cm.…”

“…analyzed 6000 CT scans and identified 5 of them as a pancreatic lipomas (0,083%). They stated that the lipoma dimensions were 1.7 x 1.9 cm, 2.5 x 1.7 cm, 0.9 x 0.9 cm, 1.2 x 1.2 cm, 0.4 x 1.5 cm Dwivedi et al (2011). found 4 pancreatic lipomas as a result of 6-month screening.…”