[Obscure gastrointestinal bleeding secondary to ectopic pancreas. Case report].

Abstract

Background: Ectopic pancreas is a benign subepithelial tumor with an abnormal anatomical position, typically diagnosed incidentally as it does not produce symptoms and is challenging to identify in paraclinical studies. The incidence is very low, so our objective is to present the case of a patient with ectopic pancreas as a rare cause of obscure gastrointestinal bleeding.

Clinical case: A 70-year-old man presented with melena, anemia, and weight loss. The initial approach involved endoscopic studies (panendoscopy, colonoscopy, enteroscopy), a tagged red blood cell scan and computed tomography, none of which identified the bleeding site. Therefore, an exploratory laparoscopy was performed, revealing a 3 x 3 cm exophytic lesion in the proximal jejunum, which was completely resected. Histopathology confirmed an ectopic pancreas.

Conclusions: This condition is an uncommon but potentially serious cause of gastrointestinal bleeding, as the definitive diagnosis is often delayed. Therefore, clinical suspicion is crucial for early diagnosis and timely treatment, involving a multidisciplinary team of specialists in gastroenterology, radiology, pathology, and general surgery. In this manuscript, we present one of the few reported cases of ectopic pancreas as the cause of mid-intestinal bleeding.