Role of pancreatic juice cytology in the preoperative management of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm of the pancreas in the era of international consensus guidelines 2012

BACKGROUND: Routine endoscopic retrograde pancreatography (ERP) for pancreatic juice cytology (PJC) during management of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) is not recommended in the international consensus guidelines 2012. The aim of the present study was to investigate the roles of PJC in relation to the new stratification of clinical findings in the consensus guidelines 2012.

METHODS: Medical records of 70 consecutive patients who underwent preoperative PJC, subsequent pancreatectomy, and a pathological diagnosis of IPMN were reviewed. Diagnostic ability of PJC to detect malignant lesions was calculated by the stratification of clinical findings.

RESULTS: Forty patients had malignant lesions, including 29 with malignant IPMN, 10 with concomitant pancreatic adenocarcinoma, and one with both. Accuracies of PJC in all 70 patients and in 59 patients with IPMN alone were 77 and 80 %, respectively. The sensitivity and accuracy of PJC in patients with "worrisome features" were 100 and 94 %, respectively. Eight of 11 patients with concomitant pancreatic adenocarcinoma had non-malignant IPMN without risk factors, and 3 significant lesions could be diagnosed only by ERP/PJC. In addition, the management plan based on imaging study changed from observation to resection in two patients who had the single "worrisome feature" of branch duct IPMN and positive PJC results. As a result, PJC altered the management plan in 5 patients.

CONCLUSIONS: Pancreatic juice cytology potentially has important roles to determine the adequate treatment choice in patients with IPMNs with "worrisome features," and to detect significant lesions that could not be detected by other imaging modalities.