Ernest H. Rosenbaum, MD, Malin Dollinger, MD, and Sean J. Mulvihill, MD
Adapted for the Canadian edition by Sheldon Fine, MD
The pancreas is both an exocrine gland that produces enzymes to help digestion and an endocrine gland that produces insulin to regulate the body's metabolism of glucose. Cancer of the islet cells , or pancreatic endocrine gland, is a very uncommon tumor , making up about 5 percent of all pancreatic cancers (250 to 300 each year in Canada). Unlike the much more common exocrine pancreatic cancers, islet cell tumors are sometimes curable
( see Diagram in Gall Bladder Cancer ).
These glandular tumors may be either functioning or non-functioning. Functioning tumors secrete one or more hormones normally produced by the bowel endocrine cells and pancreatic islet cells. These hormones include insulin, gastrin, glucagon, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), somatostatin, pancreatic polypeptide (PP), ACTH and others.
Most functioning tumors producing insulin are benign and are classified as adenomas. Most islet cell cancers are nonfunctioning, and 90 percent of these nonfunctioning tumors are malignant .
