[Small pancreatic cancer diagnosis and prognosis].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics, diagnostic methods and prognosis of small pancreatic cancer.


METHODS
From May 2000 to January 2007, 89 patients with pancreatic cancer underwent surgery in our hospital. Of those, 14 had a tumor < or = 2 cm in diameter (small tumor group), and the other 75 had a tumor >2 cm in diameter (controlled group). The clinicopathological data of all the cases were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed.


RESULTS
In the small pancreatic cancer group, CT and MRI detected 66.7% (8/12) and 77.8% (7/9) of the tumors, respectively. Serosal infiltration was found in 2 cases, lymph node involvement in 3 cases, and retroperitoneal infiltration in 3 cases. The follow-up duration of this group was 4-86 months. The overall 3- and 5-year survival rates were 42.8% and 31.7%, while in the control group, the overall 3- and 5-year survival rates were 29.7% and 22.5%, respectively. The multivariate analysis showed that the lymph node involvement, serosal infiltration and retroperitoneal infiltration were independent risk factors (P<0.05). However, the tumor size was not shown to be an independent risk factor (OR value = 1.45, P = 0.971).


CONCLUSIONS
CT and MRI are valuable in detecting small pancreatic cancer. Small pancreatic cancers are likely to have a better prognosis when compared with larger ones. Lymph node metastasis and local infiltration are independent predictors of prognosis but not tumor size.
Department of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Cancer Hospital (Institute), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China.
Jian-wei
JW
Zhang
Yue-min
YM
Sun
Zhi-min
ZM
Bian
Su-sheng
SS
Shi
Cheng-feng
CF
Wang
Ping
P
Zhao
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012187:Retroperitoneal Space / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012704:Serous Membrane / Q000473:pathology*; D015996:Survival Rate; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D047368:Tumor Burden