Clinical Manifestations and Therapeutic Management

Cystic tumors of the pancreas were first observed in 1830 (BECOURT and BECOURT 1830). Even so, there still remain many unanswered questions as to their identification, classification, staging, history, and treatment (TALAMINI et al. 1992). Modern understanding of these tumors stems from the work of CAMPAGNO and OERTEL (1978). These pathologists first grouped these lesions into mucinous-macrocystic and serous-microcystic type. More recent classifications are based on the appearance of the epithelium (KLoPPEL et al. 1996) or as microcystic and oligocystic variants (LEWANDROWSKI et al. 1992; EGAWA et al. 1994).