The study of the mass screening of persons without symptoms and of the screening of outpatients with gastrointestinal complaints or icterus for pancreatic cancer in Japan, using CA19-9 and elastase-1 or ultrasonography.

To investigate the possibility of detecting carcinomas of the pancreas at an early stage by mass screening of persons without symptoms or by screening the outpatients with gastrointestinal complaints or jaundice, we performed a multicentral study of the mass screening of 10,162 persons at five local areas and of the outpatient screening of 4506 at 17 hospitals for pancreatic cancer in Japan for two years from 1984 to 1985, using serum CA19-9 and elastase-1 determinations or ultrasonography. Mass screening of 10,162 persons over 40 years old found only four (0.04%) cases of pancreatic cancer, including one case that was curatively treated. According to the screening of 4506 outpatients with gastrointestinal complaints or icterus, 85 (1.9%) patients were found to have pancreatic cancer. Of these 85 patients, 28 could undergo curative treatment. In addition to them, 73 (1.6%) patients with other digestive organ cancer were found. Our results suggest that the mass screening of persons without symptoms is not worthwhile in the early detection of pancreatic cancer, but outpatient screening is useful for detecting curative cancers of the pancreas.