Simultaneous combined pancreatic test.

A simultaneous combined pancreatic test can be performed in one morning with only one intubation of the duodenum. The test includes the measurement of exocrine pancreatic secretion of bicarbonate, enzymes, and radioactive selenium, pancreatic scanning, hypotonic duodenography, and cytology of the duodenal aspirate. In the first 70 patients it was found that a single secretion test was of only limited value in detecting pancreatic disease; cytology was the most reliable and scanning the least reliable single test; and that the combined test provided near-complete discrimination between patients with no pancreatic disease, with chronic pancreatitis, and with carcinoma of the pancreas.