Is intraoperative ultrasonography useful in pancreatic cancer surgery?

Preoperative staging of pancreatic cancer represents a major challenge for a suitable surgical management of the disease. In a consistent number of patients laparotomy is still necessary in order to decide whether the tumor is resectable or not. In the present paper the Authors report their experience with intraoperative ultrasonography (IOU) in evaluating pancreatic cancer resectability. Very important data for intraoperative decision making were obtained in 37.9% of the patients, useful information in 31%, while in 31% IOU may be looked forward to as an important aid in decision making and for a safely guided dissection.