Pancreatic cancer is a deadly disease with high mortality due to difficulties in its early diagnosis and metastasis. The tumor microenvironment induced by interactions between pancreatic epithelial/cancer cells and stromal cells is critical for pancreatic cancer progression and has been implicated in the failure of chemotherapy, radiation therapy and immunotherapy. Microenvironment formation requires interactions between pancreatic cancer cells and stromal cells. Components of the pancreatic cancer microenvironment that contribute to desmoplasia and immunosuppression are associated with poor patient prognosis. These components can facilitate desmoplasia and immunosuppression in primary and metastatic sites or can promote metastasis by stimulating angiogenesis/lymphangiogenesis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, invasion/migration, and pre-metastatic niche formation. Some molecules participate in both microenvironment formation and metastasis. In this review, we focus on the mechanisms of pancreatic cancer microenvironment formation and discuss how the pancreatic cancer microenvironment participates in metastasis, representing a potential target for combination therapy to enhance overall survival.

Background: Gasless trans-axillary endoscopic thyroidectomy (GTAET) has satisfactory cosmetic effects for the patients who have benign goiter and small thyroid carcinoma, however the complications of this surgical procedure have not been fully documented. Ipsilateral hypoglossal nerve palsy (IHNP) associated with GTAET has never been reported before. Case presentation: A 33-year old male patient presented with a 4 × 5 mm solid thyroid nodule in the right lobe. Papillary thyroid carcinoma was confirmed by the fine needle aspiration. He had strong cosmetic demand, therefore GTAET for right lobectomy and central cervical lymphadenectomy was performed in a supine position with cervical extension. Six hours after the operation, he developed tongue deviation to the right side, speech and swallowing difficulties, indicating IHNP. Head and cervical MRI showed no abnormality. The intravenous steroid was used for three days, and oral vitamin B1 and mecobalamin was prescribed for 1 month. Nine days after surgery, he was discharged. Three months after the operation, all the symptoms were completely resolved. Conclusions: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first case of IHNP after GTAET, which will be valuable to add our knowledge to diagnose and treat rare complications of GTAET.