Arteriography with visualization of small intrapancreatic arteries is a sensitive method in the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma. It can detect small intrapancreatic tumors and differentiate neoplasms from other pancreatic lesions. It also aids in staging pancreatic cancer and determining resectability. Transhepatic pancreatic venography is less sensitive than arteriography but it also can be useful in evaluating tumor operability. Pancreatic venous sampling is an important method for localizing hormone-secreting islet cell tumors.Cancer 47:1679-1684, 1981.OR THREE DECADES, examination of the peri-F pancreatic and intrapancreatic vasculature has been useful in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. In the fifties and early sixties, splenoportography and inferior vena cavography were used to evaluate the extent and operability of pancreatic tumors. l9 During that era, splenoportography , which visualizes the splenic and portal veins, was the most sensitive method for detecting carcinomas in the pancreatic body and tail.In the mid-sixties, arteriography became the primary angiographic procedure for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.12 Originally limited to visualization of peripancreatic vessels and major pancreatic arteries, arteriography was able to detect mainly larger tumors.1#2 Its diagnostic potential, however, has substantially improved with technical refinements, permitting detailed visualization of intrapancreatic arteries. Arteriography thus became capable of detecting small, operable t~m~r~.'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The middle seventies brought another angiographic method-transPresented at the International Meeting on Pancreatic Cancer,