Abstract
The problems of mass screening for pancreatobiliary cancer are a low detection rate and the excessive number of patients with progressive cancers when diagnosed. From my experience of performing ultrasonography as a close examination in mass screening, I report the current status of early diagnosis of pancreatobiliary cancer. From September 1989 to January 2009, I performed ultrasonography in 4,045 people in a mass screening institution, whose total number of mass screenings averaged 22,950 people per year. We treated 39 patients (1.0%) with malignant tumors; 10 patients (0.24%) had pancreatic cancer, 6 gallbladder cancer (0.15%), 2 bile duct carcinoma (0.05%), and 7 hepatocelluar carcinoma (0.17%). The resection rate of gallbladder cancer was 83%, and that of bile duct carcinoma and pancreatic cancer was only 50%. Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms are recognized as a high risk of pancreatic cancer and may be diagnosed in the early stage by close follow-up examinations performed for such patients. The close cooperation with a mass screening institution and expert hospitals is as important as improving the rate of workup examinations.
