Pigmented black neuroendocrine tumour of the pancreas diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology
Pancreatic endocrine neoplasms (PEN), otherwise known as pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour, islet cell tumour, and APUDoma (amine precursor uptake and decarboxylationoma) are potentially malignant. However, the rate of malignancy in these tumours is difficult to predict. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) is a safe and very useful method for the investigation of pancreatic tumours, in particular with the modern imaging and guiding techniques such as computed tomography (CT) and endoscopic ultrasonography. We report an extremely rare case of a black pigmented pancreatic endocrine tumour, primarily diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), the diagnosis of which was confirmed by histochemical, immunohistochemical and electron microscopic (EM) investigation of the resection specimen.