45 year-old female underwent a distal pancreatectomy for serous cystadenoma (not shown). This is an incidental finding in a representative section of grossly normal pancreas.
Case Discussion
Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) are neoplasms of the endocrine pancreas, thought to arise from the cells of the islets of Langerhans. They show an equal incidence rate in males and females with an average age at diagnosis of 60 years. Pancreatic NETs can be associated with clinical signs and symptoms of hormone overproduction, such as insulin, glucagon, gastrin, and somatostatin; these are termed "syndromic NETs." The majority of pancreatic NETs are well differentiated and behave in a low grade manner. Features suggestive of a high grade lesion include larger size, higher proliferative index (either through mitotic rate or Ki-67 immunohistochemistry), and poorly differentiated morphology.
This case is an example of a low grade pancreatic NET which showed strong glucagon staining by immunohistochemistry (clinical status unknown).
This slide shows Glucagon immunohistochemistry. See Related Content for H&E stain.
Shivji, S., Hsieh, E. Pancreas, Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour, low grade, Glucagon stain. Digital Laboratory Medicine Library, Dept of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology, University of Toronto. Published
. Accessed December 17, 2025. https://dev.dlml.cflabs.ca/image/pancreas-pancreatic-neuroendocrine-tumour-low-grade-glucagon-stain-lmp10075
