Diagnostic Evaluation of Pancreatic Carcinoma and Chronic Pancreatitis by Pancreatoscopy

We succeeded in viewing the image of pancreatic duct on a TV monitor as a sequential electronic endoscope image by connecting a converter with a charge-coupled device to an ultra-thin pancreatoscope. Spacial image processing by adaptive enhancement, using an electronic endoscope, was studied in the pancreatoscope images of 18 cases (10 with pancreatic cancer and 8 with chronic pancreatitis). As a result, it became clear that the images obtained in Peak 2 of adaptive enhancement are much better than the original images. There was an excellent effect of clearly detecting the characteristic mucosal patterns in pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis. We are convinced that this method would be very useful in improving the diagnostic ability of pancreatic cancer using an ultra-thin pancreatoscope.