Diagnosis of functioning pancreaticoduodenal neuroendocrine tumors

Abstract

Functioning pancreaticoduodenal neuroendocrine tumors (PD-NETs) are popular in a textbook, but they are still unfamiliar to a general clinician, and delay of diagnosis or misdiagnosis has been reported even today. It is a consensus that sporadic functioning PD-NET is cured only by surgical resection. So, early detection and early resection is the gold standard for the treatment of functioning PD-NET. Functioning PD-NETs in patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN 1) are often multiple. You should check about MEN 1 whenever you encountered multiple PD-NET. They are diagnosed in younger age than sporadic cases. In most cases they are accompanied with numerous microscopic or macroscopic nonfunctioning P-NETs, which are potentially metastatic and the most common cause of death in MEN 1 patients.