Anaplastic Carcinoma of the Pancreas Appearing with Low Back Pain due to Epidural Spinal Cord Compression: a Case Report

• Published in: SN comprehensive clinical medicine 2022-08, Vol.4 (1), Article 192
• Main Authors: Songur, Kadir, Koska, Ilker Ozgur, Bayramova, Narmin, Dilek, Banu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Case Report; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Topical Collection on Medicine
• ISSN: 2523-8973; 2523-8973
• DOI: 10.1007/s42399-022-01241-x

Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most important health conditions that can affect humans with physical and psychosocial changes. Non-specific LBP, defined as self-limiting and whose exact cause cannot be determined, is common among older adults. Lumbar disk herniation should be the first diagnosis that comes to mind in 40–60-year-old patients with clinical findings of radiculopathy with LBP. However, in order not to miss important causes such as malignancy that can cause LBP, the patient’s history should be deepened, and a physical examination should be performed carefully. We present the case of a 53-year-old female patient who applied to our clinic with LBP accompanied by radiculopathy and was diagnosed with anaplastic carcinoma of the pancreas (APC) by biopsy taken from a lesion in the sacral region detected by advanced imaging. APC is rare cancer, and the survival time of the patients is quite short due to its rapid spread and resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Based on this case, clinicians should evaluate the patient in detail and carefully, perform further imaging when necessary, and discuss the case with musculoskeletal radiologists when there are diagnostic problems, which will reduce the possibility of overlooking the underlying serious causes of LBP.