[Research progress in epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment for pancreatic cancer]

Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal disease in gastrointestinal malignant tumors. The mortality of pancreatic cancer closely parallels its incidence. Most patients with pancreatic cancer remain asymptomatic until the disease reaches an advanced stage. There is no program for screening patients at high risk of pancreatic cancer. Although CT, MRI, positron emission tomography, endoscopic ultrasonography, and endoscopic ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration offer high diagnostic ability for pancreatic cancer, it cannot be found at the early stage easily. Surgical resection is regarded as the only potentially curative treatment and adjuvant chemotherapy is given after surgery. This article reviews epidemiology, risk factors, diagnosis and treatment for pancreatic cancer by summarizing relevant literature.