Morera-Ocon FJ. Early detection of pancreatic cancer. World J Clin Cases 2024; 12(17): 2935-2938 [PMID: 38898835 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i17.2935]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Francisco J Morera-Ocon, PhD, Doctor, Department of General Surgery, Hospital General de Requena, Paraje Casablanca s/n, Requena 46340, Spain. fmoreraocon@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Surgery
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Jun 16, 2024; 12(17): 2935-2938 Published online Jun 16, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i17.2935
Early detection of pancreatic cancer
Francisco J Morera-Ocon
Francisco J Morera-Ocon, Department of General Surgery, Hospital General de Requena, Requena 46340, Spain
Author contributions: Morera-Ocon FJ is the only author and contributor of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author has not conflict-of-interest
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Francisco J Morera-Ocon, PhD, Doctor, Department of General Surgery, Hospital General de Requena, Paraje Casablanca s/n, Requena 46340, Spain. fmoreraocon@gmail.com
Received: March 3, 2024 Revised: April 24, 2024 Accepted: May 11, 2024 Published online: June 16, 2024 Processing time: 92 Days and 23.5 Hours
Abstract
The diagnosis of pancreatic cancer associates an appalling significance. Detection of preinvasive stage of pancreatic cancer will ameliorate the survival of this deadly disease. Premalignant lesions such as Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms or Mucinous Cystic Neoplasms of the pancreas are detectable on imaging exams and this permits their management prior their invasive development. Pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasms (PanIN) are the most frequent precursors of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC), and its particular type PanIN high-grade represents the malignant non-invasive form of PDAC. Unfortunately, PanINs are not detectable on radiologic exams. Nevertheless, they can associate indirect imaging signs which would rise the diagnostic suspicion. When this suspicion is established, the patient will be enrolled in a follow-up strategy that includes performing of blood test and serial imaging test such as computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, which will cost in the best-case scenario a burden of healthcare systems, and potential mortality in the worst-case scenario when the patient underwent resection surgery, worthless when there is no moderate or high grade dysplasia in the final histopathology. This issue will be avoid having at its disposal a diagnostic technique capable of detecting high-grade PanIN lesions, such is the cytology of pancreatic juice obtained by nasopancreatic intubation. Herein, we review the possibility of detection of early malignant lesions before they become invasive PADC.
Core Tip: High-grade pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia can be diagnosed by cytology of pancreatic juice before they become invasive carcinoma. Candidates to this diagnostic procedure are patients with disturbed anatomy in pancreatic imaging without evident tumor such as segmental atrophy of parenchyma, main pancreatic duct (MPD) stenosis/dilatation, focal blurred MPD or local parenchymal fatty changes.
