Diagnosis of resectable pancreatic carcinomas by means of ERCP and intraoperative fine-needle biopsy.

In 27 out of 30 resectable carcinomas of the pancreas or the periampullary region we succeeded in recognizing microscopically the malignant nature of the lesion before removing the neoplasm. This was possible 3 times preoperatively during ERCP by means of forceps biopsy taken from the tumorinfiltrated duodenal wall and with 24 patients intraoperatively by means of fine needle biopsy and cytological rapid diagnosis.