{"entity":{"id":"pancreatic-colloid-carcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Colloid (mucinous non-cystic) carcinoma of the pancreas","aka":["Colloid (mucinous non-cystic) carcinoma of the pancreas (mucin pools; usually the invasive part of an intestinal-type IPMN; better outlook)","Colloid carcinoma of the pancreas","Mucinous non-cystic carcinoma of the pancreas","Mucinous noncystic carcinoma","Colloid carcinoma"],"tldr":"Colloid carcinoma is a rare form of pancreatic cancer in which the cancer cells float in large pools of mucus rather than forming glands in dense scar. It usually grows out of an intestinal-type IPMN in the main pancreatic duct, presents as a larger but lower-stage tumour, and has a clearly better outlook after surgery than ordinary pancreatic cancer.","summary":"What it is. Colloid carcinoma is defined by nodular pools of extracellular mucin containing scanty malignant cells, making up more than 80 percent of the tumour (Adsay 2001); the 2019 WHO classification lists it as a variant of ductal adenocarcinoma (Nagtegaal 2020). In more than half of the defining series it was the invasive component of an IPMN (9 of 17) or an MCN (1 of 17), and KRAS codon 12 mutations were found in only 4 of 12 cases studied, fewer than in ordinary ductal cancer.\n\nHow it differs from its parent. Patients present with larger tumours (mean 5.3 cm) but lower stage; two- and five-year survival were 70 and 57 percent against 28 and 12 percent for 82 resectable ordinary ductal adenocarcinomas at the same centre, and ten patients were alive without disease at a median of 79 months, four of them despite lymph node metastases (Adsay 2001). Among invasive IPMNs, colloid and oncocytic carcinomas kept a favourable outcome after stage matching while tubular carcinomas did not; colloid carcinomas arose only from intestinal-type IPMNs and mostly from main-duct disease (Mino-Kenudson 2011), and in a matched series tubular histology carried 3.7 times the hazard of death of colloid histology (Yopp 2011).\n\nHow common it is. Not counted by registries; 26 to 41 percent of invasive IPMN-associated cancers in the two single-centre series above.\n\nHow it is treated. Resection, usually a pancreatoduodenectomy for main-duct IPMN in the head, with adjuvant chemotherapy as for ductal adenocarcinoma; there is no histology-specific trial. The defining series noted that all seven patients who died with or of tumour had undergone an incisional biopsy before or during surgery, and none of the survivors had, an observation the authors flagged rather than proved.","asOf":"2026-09-24","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucinous_carcinoma","links":[{"label":"Adsay, Am J Surg Pathol 2001: colloid (mucinous non-cystic) carcinoma of the pancreas","url":"https://doi.org/10.1097/00000478-200101000-00003"},{"label":"Mino-Kenudson, Gut 2011: prognosis of invasive IPMN depends on histological and precursor epithelial subtypes","url":"https://doi.org/10.1136/gut.2010.232272"},{"label":"Yopp, Ann Surg 2011: invasive carcinoma arising in IPMN, matched comparison with ductal adenocarcinoma","url":"https://doi.org/10.1097/sla.0b013e318214bcb4"},{"label":"Nagtegaal, Histopathology 2020: the 2019 WHO classification of tumours of the digestive system","url":"https://doi.org/10.1111/his.13975"}],"tags":["gi","pancreatic","subtype-page"],"related":["pancreatic","ipmn-associated-carcinoma","ipmn-cystic-precursors","mcn-associated-carcinoma","colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma","gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["cytotoxic-chemotherapy","histopathology-ihc","pancreatic-surveillance"],"targets":["kras"],"drugs":["folfirinox","gemcitabine-nab-paclitaxel"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":["ras-mapk","pancreatic-cancer-signalling"],"terms":["tumour-grade","whipple","pancreatic-cyst-high-risk-stigmata"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"group":"gastrointestinal","burden":"Rare: 17 cases with more than 80 percent colloid pattern in the series that defined it; 16 of 61 (26 percent) invasive cancers arising in IPMNs at one centre and 24 of 59 (41 percent) at another were colloid type. No population count is published.","subtypes":["Colloid carcinoma arising in an intestinal-type IPMN (the usual setting)","Colloid carcinoma arising in a mucinous cystic neoplasm","Colloid carcinoma without an identifiable precursor (distinguished from ductal PDAC with mucinous features)"],"biomarkers":["More than 80 percent extracellular mucin pools with floating malignant cells (histology)","Intestinal-type IPMN background (MUC2 and CDX2 positive)","KRAS mutation in a minority (4 of 12 in the defining series)"],"standardOfCare":[{"setting":"Resectable","approach":"Pancreatoduodenectomy or distal pancreatectomy with the IPMN, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy as for ductal adenocarcinoma; the remaining gland is kept under surveillance because IPMN is a field disease.","refs":["whipple","distal-pancreatectomy","folfirinox","neoadjuvant-adjuvant","pancreatic-surveillance"],"guideline":{"version":"NCCN Guidelines: Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma","url":"https://www.nccn.org/guidelines/guidelines-detail?category=1&id=1455"}},{"setting":"Advanced","approach":"Treated as pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: resection with adjuvant chemotherapy when removable, the chemotherapy rows of the parent page when not; the parent record carries the trials.","refs":["folfirinox","gemcitabine-nab-paclitaxel"],"guideline":{"version":"NCCN Guidelines: Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma","url":"https://www.nccn.org/guidelines/guidelines-detail?category=1&id=1455"}}],"stateOfArt":["Recognised since 2001 as a distinct, better-behaved variant; the favourable outcome of invasive IPMN is largely the colloid and oncocytic subtypes."],"history":[{"year":2001,"title":"Adsay and colleagues define colloid carcinoma of the pancreas (17 cases)","refs":["tumour-grade"]},{"year":2011,"title":"Invasive IPMN outcome shown to depend on colloid versus tubular histology","refs":["ipmn-associated-carcinoma"]}],"pipeline":[],"openProblems":["Rarity: no trial, no registry code, so its share and outcomes come from single centres.","Whether the favourable outlook justifies less adjuvant treatment is untested."],"parent":"pancreatic"},"route":"/cancers/pancreatic-colloid-carcinoma/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"pancreatic-adenosquamous-carcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Adenosquamous carcinoma of the pancreas","route":"/cancers/pancreatic-adenosquamous-carcinoma/"},{"id":"ipmn-cystic-precursors","kind":"cancer","name":"Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm and other pancreatic cystic precursors","route":"/cancers/ipmn-cystic-precursors/"},{"id":"ipmn-associated-carcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Invasive carcinoma arising in an intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN-associated carcinoma)","route":"/cancers/ipmn-associated-carcinoma/"},{"id":"colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Mucinous adenocarcinoma of the colon and rectum","route":"/cancers/colorectal-mucinous-adenocarcinoma/"},{"id":"gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Mucinous carcinoma of the gallbladder","route":"/cancers/gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma/"},{"id":"mcn-associated-carcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Mucinous cystic neoplasm of the pancreas with associated invasive carcinoma (MCN-associated carcinoma)","route":"/cancers/mcn-associated-carcinoma/"},{"id":"pancreatic","kind":"cancer","name":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","route":"/cancers/pancreatic/"}],"technology":[{"id":"cytotoxic-chemotherapy","kind":"technology","name":"Cytotoxic chemotherapy","route":"/technologies/cytotoxic-chemotherapy/"},{"id":"pancreatic-surveillance","kind":"technology","name":"High-risk pancreatic surveillance (CAPS / PRECEDE)","route":"/technologies/pancreatic-surveillance/"},{"id":"histopathology-ihc","kind":"technology","name":"Histopathology & immunohistochemistry","route":"/technologies/histopathology-ihc/"}],"target":[{"id":"kras","kind":"target","name":"KRAS","route":"/targets/kras/"}],"drug":[{"id":"folfirinox","kind":"drug","name":"FOLFIRINOX / mFOLFIRINOX","route":"/drugs/folfirinox/"},{"id":"gemcitabine-nab-paclitaxel","kind":"drug","name":"Gemcitabine + nab-paclitaxel","route":"/drugs/gemcitabine-nab-paclitaxel/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"pancreatic-cancer-signalling","kind":"pathway","name":"Pancreatic cancer (KEGG map)","route":"/pathways/pancreatic-cancer-signalling/"},{"id":"ras-mapk","kind":"pathway","name":"RAS / RAF / MEK / ERK (MAPK)","route":"/pathways/ras-mapk/"}],"term":[{"id":"distal-pancreatectomy","kind":"term","name":"Distal pancreatectomy (removal of the body and tail of the pancreas, usually with the spleen)","route":"/terms/distal-pancreatectomy/"},{"id":"tumour-grade","kind":"term","name":"Grade","route":"/terms/tumour-grade/"},{"id":"pancreatic-cyst-high-risk-stigmata","kind":"term","name":"High-risk stigmata and worrisome features of pancreatic cysts (IPMN and MCN surgical criteria)","route":"/terms/pancreatic-cyst-high-risk-stigmata/"},{"id":"neoadjuvant-adjuvant","kind":"term","name":"Neoadjuvant / adjuvant / perioperative","route":"/terms/neoadjuvant-adjuvant/"},{"id":"whipple","kind":"term","name":"Whipple procedure (pancreaticoduodenectomy)","route":"/terms/whipple/"}]}}