Comparison of endoscopic ultrasonography and multidetector computed tomography for detecting and staging pancreatic...

Accurate preoperative detection and staging of pancreatic cancer may identify patients with locoregional disease that is amenable to surgical resection.

To compare endoscopic ultrasonography and multidetector computed tomography (CT) for the detection, staging, and resectability of known or suspected locoregional pancreatic cancer.

Prospective, observational, cohort study.

Single, tertiary referral hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana.

120 participants with known or suspected locoregional pancreatic cancer.

Endoscopic ultrasonography followed by multidetector CT was performed in all patients. Patients with known or suspected pancreatic cancer deemed potentially resectable by 1 or both tests were considered for surgery.

Detection, staging, and resectability of pancreatic cancer. Surgically resected pancreatic cancer with negative microscopic histologic margins was considered resectable.

Of 120 patients enrolled, 104 (87%) underwent endoscopic ultrasonography and CT. Of the 80 patients with pancreatic cancer, 27 (34%) were managed nonoperatively, and 53 (66%) treated surgically had resectable (n = 25) or unresectable (n = 28) cancer. For the 80 patients with cancer, the sensitivity of endoscopic ultrasonography (98% [95% CI, 91% to 100%]) for detecting a pancreatic mass was greater than that of CT (86% [CI, 77% to 93%]; P = 0.012). For the 53 surgical patients, endoscopic ultrasonography was superior to CT for tumor staging accuracy (67% vs. 41%; P < 0.001) but equivalent for nodal staging accuracy (44% vs. 47%; P > 0.2). Of the 25 resectable pancreatic tumors in patients recommended for surgery, endoscopic ultrasonography and CT correctly identified 88% and 92%, respectively, as resectable. Of the 28 unresectable pancreatic tumors in patients recommended for surgery, endoscopic ultrasonography and CT correctly identified 68% and 64%, respectively, as unresectable.

Radiologists who read the scans and endosonographers were not blinded to previous radiographic information. Because of the modest sample size, CIs of the sensitivity estimates were sometimes wide.

Compared with multidetector CT, endoscopic ultrasonography is superior for tumor detection and staging but similar for nodal staging and resectability of preoperatively suspected nonmetastatic pancreatic cancer.