Pancreatic cancer screening for high risk individuals: a clinical perspective

Pancreatic cancer (PC) carries a poor prognosis with uniform fatality. The disease is often metastatic at the time of clinical diagnosis and survival rates have not improved over the past years. Due to lack of effective therapy, early detection has been proposed to reduce mortality, which remains elusive. Mass screening program for pancreatic cancer is not applicable to the general population. However, relatives of patients with PC and patients with certain other conditions are at higher risk of developing PC. Targeted screening for appropriately selected high-risk individuals for PC is being done at different centers. There is variation in the screening methodology and also in patient selection for screening. The purpose of this article is to review the available guidelines and the clinical studies of PC screening in high-risk individuals. For now, PC screening remains at the research level limited to patients with a high risk of PC; individuals with ≥ 3 first degree relatives with PC, those with FAMMM syndrome, Peutz-Jeghers syndrome and hereditary pancreatitis. Further larger studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy of suggested screening strategies before it can be implemented as standard practic