Non-neoplastic solid lesions of the pancreas are conditions which may mimic pancreatic neoplasms on imaging. They include:
- focal pancreatitis
- fatty infiltration-replacement
- intrapancreatic accessory spleen
- peripancreatic lymph node
- congenital anomalies
- prominent pancreatic lobulations
- bifid pancreatic tail (pancreatic bifidum)
- miscellaneous rare conditions
- pancreatic sarcoidosis
- pancreatic Castleman disease (this lymphoproliferative condition may not strictly classify as a non-neoplastic disease)
About 5% of pancreatectomies performed with the preoperative diagnosis of malignancy will prove to be non-neoplastic on pathologic examination; however, this figure is decreasing with the current state-of-the-art pancreatic imaging modalities 2.