Erroneous diagnosis of pancreatic cancer after radiotherapy of testicular cancer.

Background: After radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy radiation-induced normal tissue alteration may mimic cancer and may cause major morbidity.

Results: Two patients irradiated for seminoma, in one case combined with cisplatin-based chemotherapy, developed clinical symptoms and radiological signs comparable to pancreatic cancer (stenosis of the ductus choledochus). The non-malignant diagnosis was finally established by revision of the histological specimen (case 1) and per-operatively (case 2). In both patients by-pass operations for biliary tract stenosis resulted in excellent palliation.

Conclusion: Radiation-induced fibrosis within the upper retroperitoneal space is an important differential diagnosis versus pancreatic cancer in patients with prior radiotherapy for seminoma. Diagnosis based only on clinical and radiological findings may lead to incorrect patient information and registration errors in Cancer Registries.