Abstract
A case of a 74-year-old man is reported who had liver cirrhosis and a mass lesion
in the left liver lobe. The search for a potential primary tumor showed a filiform
duct stenosis in the pancreatic head on ERCP. The presumptive diagnosis of a pancreatic
tumor with a liver metastasis was made. Due to the poor general condition of the patient
no further diagnostic steps were undertaken and he died four weeks later from progressive
liver failure. On autopsy an aberrant vessel originating from the superior mesenteric
artery (arteria pancreaticoduodenalis dextra superior) was found to cause the ductal
stenosis; an hepatocellular carcinoma in the left liver lobe, but no pancreatic tumor
was detected.
