The term pancreatic endocrine tumor, although widely used is a misnomer, because these tumors can occur either almost entirely in the pancreas (insulinomas, glucagonomas, nonfunctional PETs, PETs causing hypercalcemia) or at both pancreatic and extrapancreatic sites [gastrinomas, VIPomas (VIP, vasoactive intestinal peptide), somatostatinomas, GRFomas (GRF, growth hormone–releasing factor)].
PETs are also called islet cell tumors; however, this term is discouraged because it is not established that they originate from the islets, and many can occur at extrapancreatic sites.
No comments:
Post a Comment