[Ultrasonography of pancreatic neoplasms]

Abstract

Pancreatic tumors are the fourth cause of death in Occident: the 5-year-survival rate is less than 5% because of diagnostic difficulties, low clinical expression at early stage, and complexity of the surgical treatment. The role of ultrasound (US) is in early diagnosis, because also in early cancer there could be lymphatic spread or peritoneal involvement. There are multiple modalities to study the pancreas with US: abdominal US, "contact" US (endosonography and intra-operative or laparoscopic US). The first is not invasive, cheap but limited by extrinsic and intrinsic factors, the latter are respectively characterized by high cost, and need of endoscopic specialists for endosonography, the complementarity to laparoscopy or surgery for the laparoscopic/intraoperative US. Abdominal US is the first diagnostic step for the pancreas, but it is not affordable in 15-25% of patients, because of meteorism. In all the other cases, it represents the pancreas with a good contrast between the normal parenchyma and tumoral tissues. Abdominal US, together with biopsy, can define the resectability. Ecoendoscopy is actually dedicated to small tumors staging, but recent studies demonstrate the same results achieved by spiral TC. Laparoscopic US is a second step imaging in patients already selected for surgery. The first finality in US evaluation of tumor masses is early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer; it can give to some of these patients the opportunity of undergoing to surgical treatment. This could be achieved by a proper use of the moititude of ultrasonic abdominal explorations that are requested in daily practice. US, together with CT and MR, can define the resectability of the tumor, with further supplementar evaluation by mean of laparoscopic US. Intraoperative US is now indicated for planning and guiding the surgeon in resection of the pancreatic cancer.