title: [The incidence, clinical and biologic diagnosis, and prognosis of cancer of the exocrine pancreas and biliary tract].
abstract: Cancers of the pancreas and biliary tract have increased in frequency during the last decades. The severity of these cancers is partly due to the difficulty of their early diagnosis. Clinical signs, such as jaundice and abdominal mass perceptible at palpation, betray advanced tumours extending to neighbouring organs. Laboratory examinations are not specific, and the sensitivity of tumoral markers is unsatisfactory unless the tumour is more than 3 cm in diameter. To date, the 19-9 carbohydrate antigen seems to be the most interesting of these markers. The delayed diagnosis accounts for the sombre prognosis of these cancers which have a global survival rate of approximately 5% at 5 years. After excision for curative purposes, which can be performed in 20% of the patients, the mean survival rate at 5 years is about 20-25%.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gainant
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cubertafond
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001661:Biliary Tract Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor
vernacular_title: Fréquence, diagnostics clinique et biologique, pronostic des cancers du pancréas exocrine et des voies biliaires.