[Value and limitations of exfoliative cytological study of the pancreatico-duodenal juice collected during the secretin and pancreozymin test in the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma].

Studies on exfoliative cytology of the pancreatic-duodenal juice in the diagnosis of pancreas neoplasia are not numerous and the data reported are not uniform. The present study examines 176 patients, 18 of them suffering from carcinoma of the pancreas. In these latter patients there were no advanced signs of the disease. Cytology gave a correctly negative result in 46.8% of the normal subjects and in those with non-neoplastic pancreatic or digestive conditions, correctly positive in 66.6% of the pancreas neoplasias, falsely negative in 2,2% of the total series and in 33.3% of the pancreatic cancers, and falsely positive in 1,1% of the series. In 47.7% of cases, the study proved useless owing to the absence of material in the collected juice.