Advances in the Early Diagnosis of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma and Premalignant Pancreatic Lesions

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal human malignancies, in part because it is often diagnosed at late stages when surgery and systemic therapies are either unfeasible or ineffective. Therefore, diagnosing pancreatic cancer in earlier stages is important for effective treatment. However, because the signs and symptoms may be nonspecific and not apparent until the disease is at a late stage, the timely diagnoses of pancreatic cancer can be difficult to achieve. Recent studies have shown that selective screening and increased usage of biomarkers could improve the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. In this review, we discuss recent advancements in the early detection of pancreatic ductal carcinoma and precancerous lesions. These include innovations in imaging modalities, the diagnostic utility of various biomarkers, biopsy techniques, and population-based surveillance approaches. Additionally, we discuss how machine learning methods are being applied to develop integrated methods of identifying individuals at high risk of developing pancreatic disease. In the future, the overall survival of pancreatic cancer patients could be improved by the development and adoption of these new methods and techniques.

Diagnostic Differentiation between Pancreatitis and Pancreatic Cancer: A Scoping Review

“…The absolute number of publications that presented biomarkers were as follows: Ca 19.9 (23), IgG4 + /IgG (18), Cytokines and chemokines (13), CEA (6), and Enzymes, including faecal elastase-1 and amylase (3). Figure 3 summarises biomarkers published for diagnostic differentiation in the period under review.…”

“…Several risk factors for PC have been identified, including cigarette smoking, alcohol use, diabetes mellitus, and CP (see Figure 1 for the risk factors and relative risk) [6,7]. The latter is responsible for up to a 16-fold increased risk of PC [8].…”