[The growth rates of liver metastases in pancreatic cancer--comparison on growth rates between clinical cases and established human pancreatic cancer cell lines].

By measuring the doubling time both of clinical liver metastases and cultured human pancreatic cancer cell lines, we studied the possibility of occult liver metastases at the time of pancreatectomy in patients with pancreatic cancer. Doubling times of 3 pancreatic cancers were obtained from the measurements of size of liver metastases after pancreatectomy and those were compared with those of cultured human pancreatic cancer cell lines established from two of these cases. Doubling time of liver metastases were about fifteen times as long as those of cultured cell lines. On the assumption that growth rates of liver metastases were constant, the size of liver metastases at the time of pancreatectomy was calculated in three cases. The calculated sizes of these liver metastases were 140 microns, 2.4 mm, and 8.3 mm respectively. These results indicate that occult liver metastases have already existed in patients with pancreatic cancer even though they were clinically undetectable at the time of operation. And some adjuvant therapies against occult liver metastases are necessary for achievement of the better prognosis.