Pancreatic cancer: diagnostic value of pancreatic function tests

Pancreatic secretion is abnormal in at least 90% of patients with pancreatic cancer. Any of the standard tests of pancreatic function that employ an exogenous secretin or CCK-like stimulus effectively reveal those abnormalities. However, despite a high sensitivity, the tests lack the specificity necessary to distinguish reliably between pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis. With the current practice of testing pancreatic function in symptomatic patients and in the absence of an identifiable high-risk group within the population, it is unlikely that the established pancreatic function tests will provide a means for the earlier detection of pancreatic cancer.