[Early diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma]

The poor prognosis of pancreatic carcinoma seems mainly due to the late symptoms onset. Age, cigarette smoking, family history of pancreatic carcinoma, chronic pancreatitis, a history of previous malignancy, new onset of diabetes mellitus without family history or overweight, and secondary failure to oral antidiabetic agents in a long standing type 2 diabetes mellitus are the hitherto identified risk factors. In consideration of the increasing availability of endoscopic ultrasonography--the most accurate examination in the diagnosis of small pancreatic masses--a perspective multicentric screening study on subjects with some of these risk factors may be justified at this time.