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Abstract : |
Pancreatic cancer is increasing in Japan and some other countries in the world. The number of deaths has doubled in Japan in these two decades. The Japan Pancreas Society (JPS) is continuing three projects against pancreatic cancer: 1) publication of the guidelines for clinical and histopathological staging, surgical resection and processing of surgical specimens after resection asthe General Rules for the Study of Pancreatic Cancer; 2) the nation-wide Pancreatic Cancer Registry, and 3) establishment of the Clinical Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer. These three activities are briefly described in this article along with two major historical Japanese contributions to Pancreatology, including the first successful clearvisualization of the biliary tract and pancreatic duet (ERCP) and the first report of mucin hypersecreting tumor of the pancreas. This entity corresponds to the current concept of malignant main duet intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs). The IPMNs are drawing more attention in terms of their malignant transformation and the development of separate pancreatic cancer. Ali these activities would contribute to our better understanding of epidemiology, symptomatology, biology, diagnosis and treatmentof pancreatic cancer., |
