Abstract

Context Gangliocytic paraganglioma is a rare tumor, almost always located in the second portion of the duodenum, andmanifested with upper gastrointestinal bleeding and abdominal pain. To date, only one case of duodenal gangliocyticparaganglioma presented with recurrent acute pancreatitis has been reported in the literature. Case report We present a72-year-old woman admitted to the hospital due to recurrent episodes of acute pancreatitis. Paraclinical examinationsshowed a polypoid mass in the second portion of duodenum which was removed surgically by local excision. Thepreoperative differential diagnosis was suggestive with gastrointestinal stromal tumor or adenoma. The histopathologyexamination revealed a duodenal gangliocytic paraganglioma. After a follow up period of seventeen months the patientremained without clinical evidence of tumor recurrence. Conclusion Our case report draws attention to the need forincluding in our differential diagnosis of recurrent acute pancreatitis the mechanical obstruction of the pancreatic duct dueto this tumor.