Modern imaging of the pancreas has both a morphologic role, with an accurate delineation of the pancreatic tissue as well as of the pancreatic ducts and vessels, and a functional role, with the visualization of the pancreatic fluid cynetic and ductal dilation after secretin injection. The wide range of informations achievable with modern imaging techniques leads to a in depht knowledge of the d...

It has been .10 years since Vogelstein and colleagues (1, 2) proposed a progression model for colorectal neoplasia in which they hypothesized that the progression from normal colonic epithelium, to small adenomatous polyps, to infiltrating adenocarcinoma is associated with the activation of oncogenes and the inactivation of tumor suppressor genes. Mutations in the APC gene initiate the adenomat...

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) allows high resolution imaging of the pancreas. EUS is a very useful technique for evaluating morphological features of a cystic tumors of the pancreas. These features include thick wall type, tumor protruding type, thick septal type, microcystic type, thin septal type and simple type. Malignant cystic lesions may present as a hypoechoic cystic/solid mass or as a com...

Pancreatic cystic lesions can be benign, premalignant or malignant. The recent increase in detection and tremendous clinical variability of pancreatic cysts has presented a significant therapeutic challenge to physicians. Mucinous cystic neoplasms are of particular interest given their known malignant potential. This review article provides a brief but comprehensive review of premalignant pancr...

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) has been increasingly used for the diagnosis and staging of pancreatic cancer. It has recently become the modality of choice in assessing pancreatic lesions overcoming other traditional modalities. Typically lesions located at the tail of the pancreas are best accessed through the stomach. We present a patient with pancreatic tail mass occurring in the setting of a l...

Purpose:MicroRNA (miRNA) alterations are likely to contribute to the development of pancreatic cancer and may serve as markers for the early detection of pancreatic neoplasia. ExperimentalDesign: To identify themiRNA alterations that arise during the development of pancreatic cancer, we determined the levels of 735miRNAs in 34 pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasias (PanIN) and 15 normal pancreat...

PURPOSE MicroRNA (miRNA) alterations are likely to contribute to the development of pancreatic cancer and may serve as markers for the early detection of pancreatic neoplasia. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN To identify the miRNA alterations that arise during the development of pancreatic cancer, we determined the levels of 735 miRNAs in 34 pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasias (PanIN) and 15 normal panc...

Cystic pancreatic neoplasms comprise a heterogeneous group of pathologic entities. Mucinous cystic tumors and serous cystadenomas account for more than 75% of reported cases. While serous cystadenomas are almost uniformly benign, mucinous cystic tumors all have malignant potential and must be treated as such. While both clinical and biochemical features can distinguish among the various cystic ...

Given the low incidence of pancreatic cancer in the general population, screening of pancreatic cancer in the general population using invasive modalities is not feasible. Combination of invasive screening with noninvasive biomarkers for pancreatic cancer and its precancerous lesions has the potential to reduce mortality due to pancreatic cancer. In this review, we focus on biomarkers found in ...

The growth of pancreatic cancers may be influenced by certain gut peptides. However, the alteration of gut peptide receptors in the progress of pancreatic carcinogenesis is largely unknown. With storage phosphor autoradiography, this study visualized and characterized receptors for cholecystokinin (CCK), somatostatin (SST), bombesin (BBS), secretin and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in pan...