Mucinous cystic neoplasia (MCN) of the pancreas: systematic review and meta-analysis of sex differences in prevalence and malignancy risk between males and females.

Kjetil Søreide, Nikolaos Kartalis, Marcus T T Roalsø, Daniel L Hughes, Patrik Larsson, Poya Ghorbani, Carlos Fernándes Moro

Journal: Chinese clinical oncology 2025;14(2):19

PMID: 40337875

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Abstract

BACKGROUND

Among the pancreatic cystic neoplasia, the mucinous cystic neoplasia (MCN) is less-well understood as these are a much rarer to come by and a poorly described cyst entity. Notably, the MCNs have previously been thought to almost exclusively develop in females, with few reports of MCN in males. Here we present a case of male MCN together with a systematic review of the disparities in sex-dependent prevalence and malignancy risk as found in the literature.

METHODS

A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted on pre-existing literature to assess the incidence and malignancy rates of MCN in male and female patients. The study protocol was prospectively registered on PROSPERO (CRD42024606793). A comprehensive search of PubMed, Embase, MEDLINE and Web of Science was performed covering all studies published from January 2014 to August 2024.

RESULTS

The study included 51 studies with a total of 3,519 patients. Prevalence rates show a marked predominance of MCN in female patients at 84.5% [95% confidence interval (CI): 80.5-87.9%], while malignancy rates are significantly higher in male patients with MCN 47.2% (95% CI: 26.1-69.3%) compared to females at 16.6% (95% CI: 6.4-36.6%).

CONCLUSIONS

Among all studies reporting on MCN, the systematic review of accumulated data found an overall prevalence of 14.2% in males, but with an almost 50% risk of malignancy rate in males compared to females.

Address: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway; Department of Quality and Health Technology, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway; Gastrointestinal Translational Research Unit, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway.; Department of Hepatopancreaticobiliary Surgery, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK.; Division of Surgery and Oncology, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Upper Abdominal Diseases, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.; Division of Radiology, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology (CLINTEC), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Radiology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.; Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden; Department of Clinical Pathology and Cancer Diagnostics, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.; Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway; Gastrointestinal Translational Research Unit, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway; Division of Surgery and Oncology, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.

DOI: 10.21037/cco-24-124

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Full Text Sources:

https://doi.org/10.21037/cco-24-124

Medical:

https://medlineplus.gov/pancreaticcancer.html

MeSH Terms: Humans, Female, Prevalence, Male, Pancreatic Neoplasms, Risk Factors, Sex Factors