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Pancreatic adenocarcinoma recurrence after surgery (PARaS) is associated with poor outcomes. PARaS is locoregional in 50%-80%, effecting the resection bed and adjacent lymphatics. 1-3 Detection of PARaS via endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is challenging because recurrent malignancy is difficult to distinguish from normal postoperative changes. Diagnosing PARaS is important, because salvage chemotherapy/radiation improves survival. 4,5 The purpose of this investigation is to determine the clinical utility of EUS fine-needle aspiration (FNA) in patients with suspected PARaS., (Copyright © 2018 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The benefit of adding external beam radiation to adjuvant chemotherapy in patients that have undergone a margin positive resection for early stage, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has not been determined definitively., Methods: The National Cancer Data Base was queried to evaluate the utility of adjuvant radiation in patients with pathologic stage I-II pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who underwent upfront pancreatoduodenectomy with a positive margin (margin positive resection) between 2004 and 2013., Results: In the study, 1,392 patients met inclusion criteria, of whom 263 (18.9%) were lymph node-negative (pathologic stages IA, IB, IIA) and 1,129 (81.1%) were node-positive (pathologic stage IIB); 938 (67.4%) patients received adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy, while 454 (32.6%) received adjuvant chemotherapy alone. Cox modeling stratified by nodal status demonstrated the benefit of radiation to be statistically significant only in node positive patients (hazard ratio 0.81, 95% confidence interval, 0.71-0.93). Node-positive patients receiving adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy had an adjusted median survival of 17.5 months vs 15.2 months for those receiving adjuvant chemotherapy alone (P=.003). In patients who had negative nodes, there was no difference in overall survival with radiation (22.5 vs 23.6 months, P=.511)., Conclusion: Addition of radiation to adjuvant chemotherapy after a margin positive resection confers a survival benefit albeit limited (about 2 months) in patients with node-positive pancreatic head cancer. (Surgery 2017;160:XXX-XXX.)., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

To date, targeted therapy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains largely unsuccessful in the clinic. Current genomics-based technologies are unable to reflect the quantitative, dynamic signaling changes in the tumor, and require larger tumor samples that are difficult to obtain in PDAC patients. Therefore, a highly sensitive functional tool that can reliably and comprehensively inform intra-tumoral signaling events is direly needed to guide treatment decision. We tested the utility of a highly sensitive proteomics-based functional diagnostic platform, Collaborative Enzyme Enhanced Reactive-immunoassay (CEERTM), on fine-needle aspiration (FNA) samples obtained from 102 patients with radiographically-evident pancreatic tumors. Two FNA passes were collected from each patient, hybridized to customized chips coated with an array of capture antibodies, and detected using two enzyme-conjugated antibodies which emit quantifiable signals. We demonstrate that this technique is highly sensitive in detecting total and phosphorylated forms of multiple signaling molecules in FNA specimens, with reasonable correlation of marker intensities between two different FNA passes. Notably, signals of several markers were significantly higher in PDAC compared to non-cancerous samples. In PDAC samples, we found high total c-Met signal to be associated with poor survival, and confirmed this finding using an independent PDAC tissue microarray.

Objective: Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) plays an integral role in the evaluation of pancreatic cysts lesions (PCLs). The aim of the study was to determine predictors of surgical referral in patients with PCLs undergoing EUS., Methods: We performed a multicenter retrospective study of patients undergoing EUS for evaluation of PCLs. Demographics, EUS characteristics, and fine-needle aspiration results were recorded. Patients were categorized into surgery or surveillance groups on the basis of post-EUS recommendations. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify predictors of surgical referral., Results: 1804 patients were included. 1301 patients were recommended to undergo surveillance and 503 patients were referred for surgical evaluation, of which 360 patients underwent surgery. Multivariate analysis revealed the following 5 independent predictors of surgical referral: symptoms of weight loss on presentation (odds ratio [OR], 2.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.44-5.03), EUS findings of associated solid mass (OR, 7.34; 95% CI, 3.81-14.16), main duct communication (OR, 4.13; 95% CI, 1.71-9.98), multilocular macrocystic morphology (OR, 2.79; 95% CI, 1.78-4.38), and fine-needle aspiration findings of mucin on cytology (OR, 3.06; 95% CI, 1.94-4.82)., Conclusions: This study identifies factors associated with surgical referral in patients with PCLs undergoing EUS. Future studies should focus on creation of risk stratification models to determine the need for surgery or enrollment in surveillance programs.

Background and Aims: The exact cutoff value at which pancreatic cyst fluid carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level distinguishes pancreatic mucinous cystic neoplasms (MCNs) from pancreatic nonmucinous cystic neoplasms (NMCNs) is unclear. The aim of this multicenter retrospective study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of cyst fluid CEA levels in differentiating between MCNs and NMCNs., Methods: Consecutive patients who underwent EUS with FNA at 3 tertiary care centers were identified. Patients with histologic confirmation of cyst type based on surgical specimens served as the criterion standard for this analysis. Demographic characteristics, EUS morphology, FNA fluid, and cytology results were recorded. Multivariate logistic regression analysis to identify predictors of MCNs was performed. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated for CEA levels., Results: A total of 226 patients underwent surgery (mean age, 61 years, 96% white patients, 39% female patients) of whom 88% underwent Whipple's procedure or distal pancreatectomy. Based on surgical histopathology, there were 150 MCNs and 76 NMCNs cases. The median CEA level was 165 ng/mL. The area under the ROC curve for CEA levels in differentiating between MCNs and NMCNs was 0.77 (95% confidence interval, 0.71-0.84, P < .01) with a cutoff of 105 ng/mL, demonstrating a sensitivity and specificity of 70% and 63%, respectively. The cutoff value of 192 ng/mL yielded a sensitivity of 61% and a specificity of 77% and would misdiagnose 39% of MCN cases., Conclusions: Cyst fluid CEA levels have a clinically suboptimal accuracy level in differentiating MCNs from NMCNs. Future studies should focus on novel cyst fluid markers to improve risk stratification of pancreatic cystic neoplasms., (Copyright © 2015 American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE) for endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) biopsy of the pancreas provides immediate feedback regarding cellular adequacy to aid in obtaining a definitive diagnosis and has the potential to avoid repeat procedures. The objective of the current study was to measure the impact of ROSE service on the incidence of repeat EUS FNA biopsy procedures., Methods: Over a consecutive 3-year period, the pathology database at Washington University Medical Center was searched for patients with both an initial and subsequent EUS FNA biopsy demonstrating a solid lesion of the pancreas. These were divided temporally between the time before and after the introduction of ROSE service. Reports were reviewed and results were recorded., Results: A total of 379 patients underwent ROSE service and 377 patients did not. The percentage of repeat non-ROSE EUS FNA cases was 5.8% and the percentage of repeat ROSE EUS FNA cases was 2.9%. The use of the ROSE service was found to decrease the number of repeat procedures by approximately 50% (P = .024). For those patients who underwent a repeat EUS-FNA procedure, the ROSE service provided a higher rate of definitive diagnosis among patients undergoing repeat procedures (67%) versus the non-ROSE cohort (27%)., Conclusions: The use of ROSE for EUS-FNA biopsy of the pancreas was found to result in fewer patients undergoing repeat procedures. Patients who required a repeat procedure with the use of ROSE had a higher percentage of definitive diagnostic categorization on the repeat biopsy. Initial use of ROSE for EUS-FNA of solid pancreatic lesions was found to decrease the number of patients who required a repeat procedure.