. 2017 Dec 2;42:55–59. doi: 10.1016/j.ijscr.2017.11.056

Table 2.

Literature review of all 4 case reports of spontaneous resolution of pancreatic carcinoma and their initial presentation, method of diagnosis, interim events and eventual outcome.

No.	Author/Year	Gender/Age	Initial presentation	Method of diagnosis	Diagnosis	Interim event	Outcome
1	Shapiro SL/[3]	Unknown/Unknown	Jaundice	Exploratory laparotomy with biopsy of pancreatic mass	Inoperable pancreatic carcinoma	None (remained in good health)	Passed away 7½ years later from pulmonary embolism
			Abdominal pain				Autopsy failed to find any trace of cancer
			Nausea
			Chills
			High fever

2	Cann et. al./[4]	Male/Unknown	Abdominal pain	Exploratory laparotomy with biopsy of pancreatic mass	Pancreatic head carcinoma extending into liver with involved lymph nodes	None	Examined 6 months later and remained asymptomatic
2	Cann et. al./[4]	Male/Unknown	Diarrhea	Exploratory laparotomy with biopsy of pancreatic mass		None	Examined 6 months later and remained asymptomatic

3	Cann et. al./[4]	Male/21	Jaundice	Exploratory surgery for unrelated event (biliary peritonitis secondary to liver biopsy) with biopsy of incidental pancreatic mass	Pancreatic adenocarcinoma	Whipple’s procedure undertaken but abandoned intra-operatively. Patient made slow recovery at home.	Examined 12 years later and remained asymptomatic
			Malaise
			Fever
			Post-liver biopsy biliary peritonitis(hypotension, tachycardia, abdominal pain)

4	Cann et. al./[4]	Male/50	Weight loss	Abdominal ultrasound	Pancreatic body adenocarcinoma	Tumor considered inoperable, 6-month course of chemotherapy administered. 6-month follow-up revealed raised CA19-9, identical CTAP findings, progressive loss of weight and appetite. Chemotherapeutic management was considered a failure.	3-month follow-up revealed spontaneous tumor resolution with normal CA19-9 levels and negative PET scan.
			Anorexia	CA19-9		Patient developed perforated duodenal ulcer with peritonitis and was taken to theatre. Post-operative recovery complicated by recurrent pneumonia and fever and patient was only discharged 1 month later.	8-month follow-up revealed elevated CA19-9 and a confirmed relapse on PET scan. Patient passed away 2 months later
				CTAP
				CT guided biopsy