Telomerase Activity for the Preoperative Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Among patients with cancer, those with pancreatic cancer have one of the lowest 5-year survival rates ( 1 ). Pancreatic cancer is usually diagnosed by ultrasonography, computed tomography, endoscopic ultrasonography, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), and cytology ( 2 ). However, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish benign from malignant tumors with the use of these diagnostic tools ( 3 , 4 ). K-ras mutations in pancreatic secretions have been reported to be useful for the diagnosis of cancer ( 5 ) but were also detected in chronic pancreatitis ( 6 ). Therefore, K-ras mutations are not considered to be a specific marker for pancreatic cancer.