Should we Screen for Pancreatic Cancer?

Short Communication

Austin Pancreat Disord. 2017; 1(2): 1007.

Should we Screen for Pancreatic Cancer?

Vargas-Flores E*, Quintana-Cortez JC, Hernández JLB and Bevia-Pérez F

Paseos de Chulavista, Nogales, Sonora, México

*Corresponding author: Vargas-Flores E, Paseos de Chulavista, Nogales, Sonora, México

Received: May 26, 2017; Accepted: June 06, 2017; Published: June 13, 2017

Short Communication

Pancreatic cancer is a highly devastating disease which (when early and properly diagnosed) can be curable with surgical resection. Nevertheless, most of the patients with pancreatic cancer have unrespectable disease at the time of diagnosis. So, this raises a very interesting question. Who should we screen for pancreatic cancer?

A positive family history or known pancreatic cancer associated genetic syndromes are high risk factors to develop pancreatic cancer. Thus, these high risk individuals can be a potential target for screening programs [1,2].

Some studies have been run to determine the diagnostic yield of screening programs for pancreatic cancer in high risk groups ranging from 3.9 to 50% with varying results [3,4].

The age to initiate a screening process is yet to be determined, even in the face of a high risk individual (Table 1). For patients with hereditary pancreatitis a consensus conference recommended that screening should be offered to patients who are at least 40 years of age [5]. Patients with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome should begin screening earlier, at about 30 years of age because of younger age of onset of pancreatic cancer. For high risk patients with familial pancreatic cancer, starting screening at age 50 is recommended [6].

Citation: Vargas-Flores E, Quintana-Cortez JC, Hernández JLB and Bevia-Pérez F. Should we Screen for Pancreatic Cancer?. Austin Pancreat Disord. 2017; 1(2): 1007.