Pancreatic cancer (PC) has a poor prognosis due to delayed diagnosis. Early diagnosis is the most important factor for improving prognosis. For early diagnosis of PC, patients with clinical manifestations suggestive of PC and high risk for developing PC need to be selected for examinations for PC. Signs suggestive of PC (e.g., symptoms, diabetes mellitus, acute pancreatitis, or abnormal results of blood examinations) should not be missed, and the details of risks for PC (e.g., familial history of PC, intraductal mucin producing neoplasm, chronic pancreatitis, hereditary pancreatitis, or life habit) should be understood. Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be performed for diagnosing PC, but the diagnostic ability of these examinations for PC is limited. Endoscopic diagnostic procedures, such as endoscopic ultrasonography, including fine-needle aspiration, and endoscopic retrograde pancreatocholangiography, including Serial Pancreatic-juice Aspiration Cytologic Examination (SPACE), could be recommended for a detailed examination to diagnose pancreatic carcinoma earlier.

Backgrounds: Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is used to observe the stricture of the main pancreatic duct (MPD) and in diagnosing pancreatic cancer (PC). We investigate the findings on EUS by referring to the histopathological findings of resected specimens. Materials and Methods: Six patients with carcinoma in situ (CIS) and 30 patients with invasive carcinoma of 20 mm or less were included. The preoperative EUS findings were classified as follows. A1: Simple stricture type—no findings around the stricture; A2: Hypoecho stricture type—localized hypoechoic area without demarcation around the stricture; A3: Tumor stricture type—tumor on the stricture; B: Dilation type—the dilation of the pancreatic duct without a downstream stricture; C: Parenchymal tumor type—tumor located apart from the MPD. Results: Classes A1 and A2 consisted of 2 CISs, and 4 invasive carcinomas included two cases smaller than 5 mm in diameter. Most of the cancers classified as A3 or C were of invasive carcinoma larger than 5 mm in diameter. All cancers classified as B involved CIS. Serial pancreatic-juice aspiration cytologic examination (SPACE) was selected for all types of cases, with a sensitivity of 92.0%, while EUS-guided fine needle aspiration cytology (EUS-FNA) was only useful for invasive carcinoma, and its sensitivity was 66.7%. Conclusions: Stricture without a tumor could be a finding for invasive PC and pancreatic duct dilation without a downstream stricture could be a finding indicative of CIS. Carcinoma smaller than 5 mm in diameter could not be recognized by EUS. SPACE had a high sensitivity for diagnosing small PC.

We assessed whether there are differences in the diagnostic yield and safety of serial pancreatic juice aspiration cytologic examination (SPACE) among different indications. We retrospectively analyzed 226 patients who underwent SPACE. They were classified into group A (patients with pancreatic masses, including advanced adenocarcinoma, sclerosing pancreatitis, or autoimmune pancreatitis), group B (suspicious pancreatic carcinoma patients without obvious pancreatic masses, including small pancreatic carcinoma, carcinoma in situ, or benign pancreatic duct stenosis), and group C (intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm, IPMN). There were 41, 66, and 119 patients, with malignancy diagnosed in 29, 14, and 22 patients, in groups A, B, and C, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy were 69%, 100%, 100%, 57%, and 78% in group A; 79%, 98%, 92%, 94%, and 94% in group B; and 27%, 87%, 32%, 84%, and 76% in group C, respectively. PEP was observed in three (7.3%), three (4.5%), and fifteen (13%) patients in group A, B, and C, respectively (p = 0.20). SPACE is useful and safe in patients with suspicious small pancreatic carcinoma. However, it has limited efficacy and might not be recommended in patients with IPMN because of the high frequency of PEP.

Aims: Small common bile duct stones are known to occasionally clear spontaneously. This study aimed to prospectively assess the role of biliary stent placement in promoting the spontaneous clearance of small common bile duct stones.Methods and Results: We analyzed patients presenting with common bile duct stones of ≤5 mm diameter between June 2020 and May 2022. The exclusion criteria included asymptomatic patients, biliary pancreatitis, altered gastrointestinal anatomy, bile duct strictures (malignant or benign), and a history of EST. The biliary stents were inserted without stone removal. Stone clearance was assessed using endoscopic ultrasonography or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography after 3 months. Our primary endpoint was the clearance rate of common bile duct stones over 6 months, targeting a lower limit for the 95% confidence interval (CI) exceeding 25%. Of the 32 enrolled patients, 18 (56.3%; 95% CI: 37.7–73.6%) exhibited stone clearance. Early complications occurred in 11 patients (34.4%), totaling 12 incidents: acute cholecystitis in four, acute pancreatitis in three, biliary pain in three, and cholangitis in two patients. No severe complications occurred. Six (18.8%) patients experienced asymptomatic stent migration. Following stone clearance, four (12.5%) patients experienced stone recurrence, with an average duration of 256 ± 164 days.Conclusion: Biliary stenting appeared to effectively promote the clearance of small common bile duct stones in approximately half of the patients. However, the potential complications and risks of stone recurrence warrant close monitoring.This trial was registered in the Japan Registry of Clinical Trials (jRCT1042200020).

BRCA mutations are associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer (PC). Olaparib, an oral poly (adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, has been approved for the treatment of metastatic PC with a germline BRCA mutation. In this report, we present the case of a metastatic PC harboring a germline BRCA2 mutation, and the daughter of the patient, who had bilateral breast cancers harboring the same germline mutation, suggesting that the PC was associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome. Although PC is an aggressive disease and has poor prognosis, olaparib was administered as maintenance therapy following modified FOLFIRINOX, providing clinical benefits for >12 months.