K-ras gene mutations in the diagnosis of fine-needle aspirates of pancreatic masses: prospective study using two techniques with different detection limits.
Detection of K-ras mutations may be useful in the evaluation of pancreatic cancer. The aim of this study was to assess, in a prospective design, the diagnostic utility of K-ras mutation analysis in 62 consecutive fine-needle aspirates of pancreatic masses, using two PCR-based techniques-standard and enriched-with detection limits of a mutant allele in the presence of 10(2) or 10(3) wild-type alleles, respectively. Cytology alone offered a diagnostic sensitivity of 75%. The enriched higher sensitivity detection technique, in combination with cytology, offered a diagnostic sensitivity of 91% without false positives. The molecular analysis would have contributed to diagnosis in an additional 14 cases of pancreatic cancer. The standard technique contributed to diagnosis in an additional 9 cases. These results strongly support the use of the enriched method of detecting K-ras mutations as a complement to cytology in the evaluation of pancreatic masses.
Mora
J
J
Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Antoni M. Claret, Barcelona, Spain. lig@santpau.es
Puig
P
P
Boadas
J
J
Urgell
E
E
Montserrat
E
E
Lerma
E
E
González-Sastre
F
F
Lluís
F
F
Farré
A
A
Capellá
G
G
D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D003062:Codon; D005260:Female; D011905:Genes, ras; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D010179:Pancreas / Q000473:pathology*; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D003062:Codon