Pregnancy after undergoing major gastrointestinal surgeries like the Whipple’s procedure (pancreaticoduodenectomy) for pancreatic neoplasm is rare. This case report describes a 24-year-old woman who conceived and delivered a healthy baby after undergoing a Whipple’s procedure 5 months earlier for a pancreatic tumor. Her pregnancy was managed by a multidisciplinary team, and she delivered at 37 weeks of gestation through cesarean section without any complications. This case highlights the potential for successful pregnancy following a Whipple’s procedure, with proper counseling, coordinated care, and close monitoring during pregnancy.
Pancreatic Neoplasms ; Pancreaticoduodenectomy ; Pregnancy

Background and Objectives: The benefits of rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE) of endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) of solid masses have not been convincingly shown in large, randomized trials. New equipment using EUS-guided fine needle biopsy (FNB) allows for more material to be acquired that may obviate the need for ROSE. This study aimed to evaluate if EUS-FNB without ROSE was non-inferior to EUS-FNA with ROSE in solid pancreatic masses (SPMs). Methods: Patients with SPMs requiring tissue sampling were randomly assigned to undergo either EUS-FNA with ROSE or EUS-FNB without ROSE. The touch-imprint cytology technique was used to perform ROSE. The primary endpoint was diagnostic accuracy and secondary endpoints were specimen quality, complication rates, and procedure time. Results: Seventy-eight patients were randomized and analyzed (39 EUS-FNA with ROSE and 39 EUS-FNB without ROSE). Non-significantly different diagnostic accuracies were noted in both groups (97% with ROSE and 100% without ROSE, P < 0.371). The bloodiness of histologic samples and complication rates were not significantly different between groups. A significantly shorter mean sampling procedural time was noted for EUS-FNB over EUS-FNA with ROSE (30.4 ± 10.4 vs 35.8 ± 9.8 minutes, P < .02). Conclusions EUS-FNB demonstrated equal diagnostic accuracy with shorter procedure times in evaluating SPMs compared to EUS-FNA with ROSE. These new-generation FNB needles may obviate the need for ROSE.
Pancreatic Neoplasms

Humans ; Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Fine Needle Aspiration ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; Pancreas ; Needles

Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases affecting the health of human beings. With limited therapeutic options available, complementary and alternative medicine has been widely adopted in cancer management and is increasingly becoming accepted by both patients and healthcare workers alike. Chinese medicine characterized by its unique diagnostic and treatment system is the most widely applied complementary and alternative medicine. It emphasizes symptoms and ZHENG (syndrome)-based treatment combined with contemporary disease diagnosis and further stratifies patients into individualized medicine subgroups. As a representative cancer with the highest degree of malignancy, pancreatic cancer is traditionally classified into the "amassment and accumulation". Emerging perspectives define the core pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer as "dampness-heat" and the respective treatment "clearing heat and resolving dampness" has been demonstrated to prolong survival in pancreatic cancer patients, as has been observed in many other cancers. This clinical advantage encourages an exploration of the essence of dampness-heat ZHENG (DHZ) in cancer and investigation into underlying mechanisms of action of herbal formulations against dampness-heat. However, at present, there is a lack of understanding of the molecular characteristics of DHZ in cancer and no standardized and widely accepted animal model to study this core syndrome in vivo. The shortage of animal models limits the ability to uncover the antitumor mechanisms of herbal medicines and to assess the safety profile of the natural products derived from them. This review summarizes the current research on DHZ in cancer in terms of the clinical aspects, molecular landscape, and animal models. This study aims to provide comprehensive insight that can be used for the establishment of a future standardized ZHENG-based cancer animal model.
Animals ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Hot Temperature ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/therapy* ; Models, Animal ; Syndrome

Pancreatic cancer is one of the digestive system tumors with a high degree of malignancy,and most of the patients are diagnosed in advanced stages.Because of limited available therapies,the mortality of this disease remains high.Tumor-associated macrophages(TAM),the main immune cells in the tumor microenvironment,are involved in the regulation of the occurrence and development of pancreatic cancer.Specifically,TAM are involved in the proliferation,invasion,immune escape,and chemoresistance of pancreatic cancer cells,demonstrating potential in the targeted therapy of pancreatic cancer.In this paper,we summarize the TAM-based therapies including consuming TAM,reprogramming TAM,dynamic imaging of TAM with nanoprobes,and regulating the phagocytic ability of TAM for pancreatic cancer,aiming to provide a theoretical basis for developing new therapies for pancreatic cancer.
Humans ; Tumor-Associated Macrophages ; Macrophages ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/pathology* ; Tumor Microenvironment

Objective: To observe the effects of exosomes derived from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells on the proliferation and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells, and to analyze the contents of exosomes and explore the mechanisms affecting pancreatic cancer cells. Methods: Exosomes extracted from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells were added to pancreatic cancer cells BxPC3, Panc-1 and mouse models of pancreatic cancer, respectively. The proliferative activity and invasion abilities of BxPC3 and Panc-1 cells were measured by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and Transwell assays. The expressions of miRNAs in exosomes were detected by high-throughput sequencing. GO and KEGG were used to analyze the related functions and the main metabolic pathways of target genes with high expressions of miRNAs. Results: The results of CCK-8 cell proliferation assay showed that the absorbance of BxPC3 and Panc-1 cells in the hucMSCs-exo group was significantly higher than that in the control group [(4.68±0.09) vs. (3.68±0.01), P<0.05; (5.20±0.20) vs. (3.45±0.17), P<0.05]. Transwell test results showed that the number of invasion cells of BxPC3 and Panc-1 in hucMSCs-exo group was significantly higher than that in the control group (129.40±6.02) vs. (89.40±4.39), P<0.05; (134.40±7.02) vs. (97.00±6.08), P<0.05. In vivo experimental results showed that the tumor volume and weight in the exosomes derived from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hucMSCs-exo) group were significantly greater than that in the control group [(884.57±59.70) mm(3) vs. (695.09±57.81) mm(3), P<0.05; (0.94±0.21) g vs. (0.60±0.13) g, P<0.05]. High-throughput sequencing results showed that miR-148a-3p, miR-100-5p, miR-143-3p, miR-21-5p and miR-92a-3p were highly expressed. GO and KEGG analysis showed that the target genes of these miRNAs were mainly involved in the regulation of glucosaldehylation, and the main metabolic pathways were ascorbic acid and aldehyde acid metabolism, which were closely related to the development of pancreatic cancer. Conclusion: Exosomes derived from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells can promote the growth of pancreatic cancer cells and the mechanism is related to miRNAs that are highly expressed in exosomes.
Mice ; Animals ; Humans ; MicroRNAs/metabolism* ; Exosomes/genetics* ; Sincalide/metabolism* ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/metabolism* ; Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal/genetics* ; Mesenchymal Stem Cells/metabolism* ; Umbilical Cord

Over the past 20 years, the concept of pancreatic surgery has been updated and surgical skills has improved dramatically. With the significant improvement of surgical safety and increase of resection rate for pancreatic cancer, some traditional surgical issues such as surgical indications, timing and extent of resection are being re-evaluated. The improvement of patients' prognosis is the gold standard for judging the surgical indications. The traditional criteria of "unresectable" based on morphology will be constantly broken through, and the estimation of resectability will transition from "what can we resect" to "what should we resect". Except for clinical research, standard extent of lymph node dissection is recommended. However, for borderline resectable and locally advanced pancreatic cancer after neoadjuvant treatment, extended lymph node dissection is recommended. All kinds of surgical approaches are feasible. The approach is subject to the needs of anatomy, anatomy is subject to the needs of radical treatment, and radical treatment is subject to the needs of improving prognosis. For some patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer, sub-adventitial divestment of superior mesenteric artery and "Heidelberg triangle" cleaning are helpful to improve the resection rate and reduce the local recurrence rate,however, the impact on the long-term prognosis still needs to be further observed clinically. The quality of pancreaticojejunostomy has more influence on the incidence of pancreatic fistula than the type of pancreaticojejunostomy. For the centers with high volume patients and the surgeons with rich personal experience, laparoscopic or robot assisted surgery has the advantages of minimally invasive, but for pancreatic head carcinoma, it is not enough evidence to prove the oncological advantages of laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy and robotic-assistant pancreaticoduodenectomy.
Humans ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/pathology* ; Prognosis ; Laparoscopy ; Pancreaticoduodenectomy

As a severe malignant tumor of the digestive system,the highly invasive pancreatic cancer lacks typical preliminary symptoms. Rapid metastatic dissemination and difficulty in early-stage diagnosis preclude the chance of radical curative resection,hence resulting in a poor overall prognosis in most patients. In recent years,the wide application of the artificial intelligence(AI),represented by machine learning and deep learning,has developed rapidly in the field of medicine. All sorts of models based on AI have been applied to the screening, early diagnosis, treatment, prognosis prediction of patients with pancreatic cancer.Three-dimentional visualization and augmented reality navigation technologies have also been developed and applied in pancreatic cancer surgery.This paper reviews the status quo of AI application in pancreatic cancer from various aspects,and anticipates its future application prospects.
Humans ; Artificial Intelligence ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/surgery* ; Pancreas ; Machine Learning

Although there are still controversies over the efficiency and safety of minimally invasive radical surgery for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), most available studies have suggested a promising application of minimally invasive radical surgery. This consensus, referring to Chinese expert opinions and worldwide researches, aimed to discuss the related issues on minimally invasive radical surgery for PDAC to ensure the perioperative and oncological outcomes. Quality of evidence and strength of recommendations were evaluated based on the GRADE approach. The 15 recommendations covered 5 topics: oncological outcomes and patient safety of laparoscopic and robotic pancreatoduodenectomy, left-side pancreatectomy for PDAC, learning curve, safety of neoadjuvant therapy, and vascular resection in minimally invasive radical surgery for PDAC. This consensus gives reference and guidance to surgeons on the use of minimally invasive radical surgery for PDAC. Although this consensus is not sufficient to answer all the questions about minimally invasive radical surgery for PDAC, it represents the current consensus on the application of the techniques in the treatment of PDAC on the Chinese mainland.
Humans ; Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal/surgery* ; Consensus ; Laparoscopy/methods* ; Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures/methods* ; Pancreatectomy/methods* ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/pathology* ; Treatment Outcome ; China

Pancreatic cancer is a malignant tumor of digestive system with poor prognosis,and surgical resection is still the only hope for a radical cure. Although the current consensus and guidelines describe in detail the standard and extended range of lymph node dissection,the selection of specific range of lymph node dissection and its impact on prognosis are still controversial. Current studies have not only proposed some improved extent of lymph node dissection, such as total mesopancreas excision and Heidelberg triangle dissection, but also suggested different extent of lymph node dissection for ventral and dorsal pancreatic head cancer. In addition, the prognosis of pancreatic head cancer in uncinate process and non-uncinate process is different after para-aortic lymph node dissection, which is worthy of further study. Neoadjuvant therapy or conversion therapy provides more surgical opportunities for patients with pancreatic cancer. For these patients, Heidelberg triangle dissection has potential value in improving prognosis. This paper summarizes the exploration and latest progress of standard and extended lymph node dissection, lymph node dissection of specific site of pancreatic head cancer and the extent of lymph node dissection after neoadjuvant/transformation therapy in recent years.
Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/pathology* ; Lymph Nodes/pathology* ; Pancreas/pathology* ; Prognosis