Endoscopic diagnosis of pancreatic cancer using intraductal ultrasonography

At present developed modalities are not sufficient for detecting early stage pancreatic cancer. We previously reported the clinical usefulness of intraductal ultrasonography in various pancreatobiliary diseases. In the present study we assessed the usefulness of intraductal ultrasonography in diagnosing pancreatic cancer.

Thirty-one patients with pancreatic cancer were examined by intraductal ultrasonography. We approached the main pancreatic duct (pancreatic duct-intraductal ultrasonography) in 24 of 31 patients and the bile duct (bile duct-intraductal ultrasonography) in 20 patients with pancreatic cancer. We compared the diagnostic ability of pancreatic duct-intraductal ultrasonography with that of extracorporeal ultrasonography, computed tomography, endoscopic ultrasonography or endoscopic retrograde pancreatography. We examined the usefulness of bile duct-intraductal ultrasonography in diagnosing tumor invasion to the bile duct.

Pancreatic duct-intraductal ultrasonography was able to demonstrate a tumor in 22 of 24 patients. Extracorporeal ultrasonography, computed tomography, endoscopic ultrasonography or endoscopic retrograde pancreatography detected tumors in 26, 27, 29, 29 of 31 patients, respectively. In two patients, only intraductal ultrasonography could demonstrate a tumor, which was not detected by any other modalities. We examined bile duct invasion of the tumor according to our grading system. The overall accuracy rate was 90%. No complications were noted in any patients throughout the study period.

Intraductal ultrasonography is useful to diagnose pancreatic cancer, and it is suggested that it should be actively performed after endoscopic retrograde pancreatography.