Mixed ductal-endocrine carcinoma of the pancreas: a possible pathogenic mechanism for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy

We describe herein a case of a mixed ductal-endocrine pancreatic carcinoma. Rare cases of mixed pancreatic tumors have been described, with endocrine and exocrine components each making up a significant proportion of the neoplasm; to our knowledge, only one case has been reported with a mixed liver metastasis. In our case, ductal and endocrine cells were intimately admixed in the primary tumor and in a peripancreatic lymph node metastasis, diagnosed by standard light microscopy and double immunostaining for cytokeratin 19 and synaptophysin. The endocrine component was immunoreactive for somatostatin. Tumors with admixed endocrine and exocrine components support the hypothesis of a common endodermal histogenesis for the ductal and endocrine cells in the human pancreas.