Objective To study the cause of misdiagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma(PC) in order to obtain the final diagnosis as early as possible,and increase the rates of early diagnosis and resection of PC.Mothods We petrospectively reviewed 102 cases of PC from 1991 to 1997,and analyzed the diagnostic accuracy of prehospitalized and admitted for PC.Results The average time from initial symptoms and jaundices to admision was 197 days and 60 days,respectively.The misdiagnostic rates of the first consult and multicosult or hospitalized in other hospitals were 100% and 85%,respectively.The most frequently misdiagnostic disease was peptic ulcer(25 cases),the rest were cholelithiasis(14 cases),hepatitis(11 cases),biliary tract ascarides(5 cases).Osteophyte proliferation(3 cases),colilis(3 cases) and others(3 cases).8 cases underwent surgery in other hospitals while 7 cases of them misdiagnosis in operation.The diagnostic rates of B-U and CT after admison were 85% and 95%,respectively.According to operative findings,60% cases had wide-ranging celiac metastasis in which 40% had hepatic metastasis simultaneously,alse 75% had local invasion and lymphatic metastasis.Only 10% and 2% patients underwent radical resection and palliative surgery respectively, while 10% patients had conservative treatment.Conclusion We demonstrated that there are high misdiagnositic rate,low radical rate and delaying final diagnosis for PC.It is urgent to increase its initial diagnostic rate and apply for CT in early stage would be the best device.