How to diagnose pancreatic cancer

If you know about pancreatic cancer, you should know that in the early stage, the symptoms of pancreatic cancer are lacking of typical symptoms. Therefore, many pancreatic cancer patients have missed the best time for treatment. In order to avoid this situation, we should do regular health examinations and make some pancreatic cancer diagnosis. So, how to diagnose pancreatic cancer?

Ultrasound is less expensive than CT, is more readily available, and can detect liver, intrahepatic, and extrahepatic bile duct tumors with a sensitivity and specificity of more than 90 percent. The accuracy of ultrasound diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is limited by the operator's skill, the patient's enlarged body shape, and gastrointestinal gas.

Usually, pancreatic cancer ultrasound is used as a supplementary diagnostic method to CT. Secondly, CT scanning is used. This scanner does not rely on surgery and is not limited by the patient's body shape and gastrointestinal gas. It can identify liver metastases, lymphatic lesions, and peripheral vascular invasion, but it is unreliable for lesions less than 2 cm or small peritoneal nodules.

The third is the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which we all know. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is not more useful than CT in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. It cannot show any advantages over CT, but as a specialized technology in this field, it may play a role in the future from a development point of view. Finally, endurocholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is particularly useful in identifying bile duct stones, diagnosing bile duct damage, and obtaining tissue biopsies for duodenal and ampullary cancers. If an endoscope is inserted with the help of ultrasound, it provides a new method for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. This technology makes it possible to diagnose pancreatic cancer in its early stages.

Timely treatment of pancreatic cancer is crucial for patients, so I hope you can take the time to read the above diagnostic methods. You should also seek medical attention in time when you experience abdominal discomfort so that any disease can be detected and treated early.