CASE REPORT article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Pediatric Oncology
Cases report: the crucial role of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and intraoperative ultrasound in diagnosing pediatric pancreatoblastoma
Provisionally accepted
- West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
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Pancreatoblastoma (PB) is a rare malignant neoplasm of the pancreas, primarily affecting children. While some reports have described the imaging characteristics of PB, detailed descriptions of its ultrasound (US) and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) features in children are limited. We reported two cases of PB admitted to our hospital with detailed ultrasonographic features. The first case involved a 14-year-old girl who presented with intermittent, unexplained epigastric pain. CEUS revealed a hypoechoic mass with heterogeneous hyperenhancement in the pancreatic head. She underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy and remains disease-free to date. The second case was a 4-year-old boy with a palpable, unexplained mass in the right upper abdomen. US identified a well-defined, heterogeneous mass in the epigastric region with internal point-like hyperechoic areas. The intraoperative US showed portal vein cancer thrombus. He underwent tumor resection along with reconstruction of the portal and superior mesenteric veins. He subsequently received chemotherapy and remained disease-free to date.
Keywords: Pancreatoblastoma, ultrasound, contrast-enhanced ultrasound, intraoperative ultrasound, Pediatrics, case report
Received: 23 May 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zeng, Yan, Yang, Xiang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Juxian Liu, liujuxian@wchscu.cn
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