Study Recommends Using MRI Screening for Pancreatic Cancer in High-Risk Patients

Results of a study that investigated the effectiveness of Magnetic Resonance Imaging for screening high-risk individuals for pancreatic cancer have been published online in the journal JAMA Surgery, on April 8, 2015.

The study was carried out by researchers at the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden) and was intended to find a suitable modality for clinical surveillance of individuals with a genetic risk for developing pancreatic cancer. Current screening methods include MRI, Computed Tomography (CT), endoscopic ultrasound, and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography.


The researchers used an MRI-based surveillance program to study high-risk patients referred to Karolinska University Hospital (Solna, Stockholm, Sweden) between January 1, 2010, and January 31, 2013. The researchers studied 40 patients (16 men, and 24 women) with a mean age of 49.9 years, and a mean length of follow-up of 12.9 months.

The results of the study showed that by using a noninvasive MRI-based screening protocol the researchers were able to detect pancreatic lesions in 40% of the patients. Five of the patients underwent surgery.

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Karolinska Institute
Karolinska University Hospital