Ernest H. Rosenbaum, MD, Malin Dollinger, MD, and Sean J. Mulvihill, 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 (about 200 to 1,000 cases each year). 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 non-functioning and 90 percent of these non-functioning tumors are malignant .
Types The pancreatic islet cells have many different cell types, including alpha, beta and delta cells, each of which normally produces a specific hormone or polypeptide. Overproduction of the hormone or polypeptide
