Researchers from the University of Missouri are proposing a new laboratory method for diagnosing pancreatic cancer. They are proposing it as an alternative to a biopsy of the pancreatic tissue taken via endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration.
“Traditionally, pathologists have examined a tissue sample through a microscope and made a diagnosis based on the overall features of all the cells in the tissue sample,” says Lester Layfield, MD, professor and chair of the MU School of Medicine’s Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences. “Previous research has shown an experienced pathologist can diagnose pancreatic cancer with accuracy in the mid-to-upper 80% range using current techniques. We wanted to develop a more accurate method by determining which cellular features are most closely associated with cancer.”
To develop the new diagnostic method, MU researchers performed a retrospective study of the records from 57 patients at University of Missouri Health Care who were tested for pancreatic cancer. They evaluated 16 features of pancreatic biopsies that could be evaluated under a microscope and performed a statistical analysis to determine which could be most reliably identified by multiple pathologists and which were most likely to be associated with pancreatic cancer. They defined four features of pancreatic cancer that, Layfield says, allow a pathologist to diagnose pancreatic cancer with 93% accuracy.
The four features of pancreatic cancer the researchers identified are a wide variation in the size of pancreatic cells’ nuclei, called anisonucleosis; oversized nucleoli, called macronucleoli; single atypical epithelia cells; and mucinous metaplasia, which is the production of mucin in cells that normally don’t produce the substance. Learn more from an MU press release.
