Pancreatic solid pseudopapillary neoplasm: key pathologic and genetic features

CONTEXT.—: Solid pseudopapillary neoplasm of the pancreas is a low-grade malignant tumor generally associated with a good prognosis. Solid pseudopapillary neoplasms show peculiar morphologic features, but sometimes the differential diagnosis with other pancreatic neoplasms (ie, pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors) can be a challenging task, especially in cytologic or biopsy specimens. In these cases immunohistochemistry is a useful tool, but the diagnostic utility of several proposed immunohistochemical markers is questionable. In recent years, despite several attempts to characterize the pathogenetic, molecular, and prognostic features of solid pseudopapillary neoplasms, they still remain unclear. OBJECTIVE.—: To give the reader a comprehensive update on this entity. DATA SOURCES.—: The PubMed database (US National Library of Medicine) was searched using the following string: pseudopapillary tumor [AND/OR] neoplasm [AND/OR] pancreas. All articles written in English were included. In addition, because a heterogeneous terminology has been used in the past to define solid pseudopapillary neoplasms, the reference lists of each paper selected in the PubMed database were also reviewed. CONCLUSIONS.—: This review gives a comprehensive update on the pathologic, clinical, and molecular features of SPNs, particularly addressing issues and challenges related to diagnosis. In addition, we have tried to correlate the molecular alterations with the morphologic and clinical features.