Deshpande et al identified histological features associated with malignant behavior in pancreatic endocrine tumors. The authors are from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Histologic markers of malignant behavior - one or more of the following:
(1) positive immunostaining for cytokeratin 19 (CK 19)
(2) tumor necrosis
(3) vascular invasion
(4) perineural invasion
where:
• CK 19 is a marker of pancreatic ductal cells but normally does not stain islet cells.
• I would imagine that the presence of metastases would also be a good indicator.
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