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Smilow Shares with Primary Care: Pancreatic Cysts and Cancer

July 01, 2025

March 4, 2025

Presentations by: Drs. James Farrell, John Kunstman, and Flora Zarcu-Power

ID
13274

Transcript

  • 00:00Yeah. I'm Anne Chang and
  • 00:02I have been running, Smilo
  • 00:04shares with primary care Zoom
  • 00:06lecture series,
  • 00:08and the idea is that
  • 00:10we are focusing on areas
  • 00:12of overlap between primary care
  • 00:14and oncology,
  • 00:16whether that's cancer screening, cancer
  • 00:18diagnosis,
  • 00:19figuring out what to do
  • 00:20with something that might be
  • 00:21cancer, or following up after
  • 00:23somebody's recovered
  • 00:24from cancer.
  • 00:27This is our third year,
  • 00:28and today's session is just
  • 00:30as wonderful, if not more
  • 00:32so, than all of the
  • 00:33others. And I think,
  • 00:34you will find it,
  • 00:36excellent. The topic is pancreatic
  • 00:39cysts and cancer.
  • 00:41As you know, we're finding
  • 00:43a lot more pancreatic lesions,
  • 00:45and lots of guidance is
  • 00:47needed, and, it is here
  • 00:49today.
  • 00:51As always, we are joined
  • 00:52by an NEMG
  • 00:54primary care colleague as well
  • 00:56as specialist from Spinal Cancer
  • 00:59Center.
  • 01:00I'll introduce Flora Zarku Power,
  • 01:03who is a colleague at
  • 01:05Northeast Medical Group.
  • 01:07She is a graduate of
  • 01:08the University of Medicine in
  • 01:10Karol Davila, Bucharest,
  • 01:11Romania,
  • 01:12and completed her internal medicine
  • 01:14residency at New York Presbyterian
  • 01:16Hospital in Queens.
  • 01:18She joined the medical staff
  • 01:20of Yale New Haven Hospital
  • 01:22several years ago as a
  • 01:24hospitalist before joining
  • 01:26into our community practices
  • 01:28in Milford.
  • 01:29She's now both a practicing
  • 01:31physician and a managing partner
  • 01:33of PrimeMed, which is part
  • 01:34of a Northeast Medical Group.
  • 01:36She's an active member of
  • 01:38the Milford and Bridgeport area
  • 01:39medical community. She served on
  • 01:41executive medical staff committee at
  • 01:42Bridgeport Hospital
  • 01:44and participated in the Emerging
  • 01:45Leadership Program through the Yale
  • 01:47School of Management.
  • 01:48She's a full time active
  • 01:50clinician
  • 01:51and helps lend her expertise
  • 01:54to primary care workflows and
  • 01:55especially the Care Signature pathways
  • 01:57where she has helped to
  • 01:59author more than almost any
  • 02:01other primary care clinician that
  • 02:03works with us.
  • 02:05She strongly believes in Sacrosanct
  • 02:07doctor patient relationship as a
  • 02:08keystone to great health outcomes,
  • 02:10and I think that will
  • 02:11come through today.
  • 02:12And I'm gonna turn it
  • 02:13over to you to introduce
  • 02:14our Smiley colleagues.
  • 02:17Thank you, Karen.
  • 02:18And as always, a pleasure
  • 02:20to,
  • 02:21host this with you, and,
  • 02:24we have a great program
  • 02:25tonight. So we have doctor
  • 02:26James Farrell,
  • 02:27professor of medicine and surgery
  • 02:29and director of the Yale
  • 02:30Center for pancreatic disease.
  • 02:32He's an internationally recognized expert
  • 02:34in pancreatic disease treatment and
  • 02:36research.
  • 02:37In addition to his clinical
  • 02:38work,
  • 02:39in the on the endoscopic
  • 02:41evaluation of autoimmune pancreatitis
  • 02:43and pancreatic cysts, he's also
  • 02:45known for his development of
  • 02:46personalized therapy approaches for pancreatic
  • 02:49cancer and early detection biomarkers
  • 02:52for pancreatic cancer.
  • 02:54He received his medical degree
  • 02:56from University College Dublin, Ireland,
  • 03:00graduated first in his medical
  • 03:02school class.
  • 03:03He completed internal medicine training
  • 03:05at Johns Hopkins
  • 03:07and then both a, gastroenterology
  • 03:10gastroenterology
  • 03:11and advanced therapeutic
  • 03:13endoscopic fellowship
  • 03:14at MGH in Hartford,
  • 03:16medical school in Boston.
  • 03:18After fellowship, he went to
  • 03:19UCLA Medical Center
  • 03:22where he developed,
  • 03:24the largest endoscopic ultrasound program
  • 03:27in California and became a
  • 03:28founding member of the UCLA
  • 03:30Center for Pancreatic Diseases. And
  • 03:33in two thousand thirteen, he
  • 03:34was recruited to lead the
  • 03:35Yale Center for pancreatic diseases
  • 03:37at the Yale School of
  • 03:38Medicine,
  • 03:39while also joining the existing
  • 03:41Yale interventional endoscopy
  • 03:43program.
  • 03:44He currently directs the Smile
  • 03:46of Cancer Center high risk
  • 03:48pancreas
  • 03:48cancer early detection clinic and
  • 03:51the Yale Digestive Health pancreatic
  • 03:53cyst program.
  • 03:55We also have doctor John
  • 03:56Kunstmann,
  • 03:58and he's MDMHS.
  • 04:00He's a board certified surgeon
  • 04:02specializing in the care of
  • 04:03patients with cancers or benign
  • 04:05diseases of the pancreas, liver,
  • 04:07bile ducts, stomach, and intestines.
  • 04:09He attended medical school at
  • 04:11the University of Wisconsin School
  • 04:13of Medicine and Public Health.
  • 04:15Doctor Kunstmann,
  • 04:16completed residency training in general
  • 04:19surgery at Yale as well
  • 04:20as a fellowship in complex
  • 04:22general surgery surgical oncology at
  • 04:25Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  • 04:27in New York City, and
  • 04:28he also holds a master's
  • 04:29degree from Yale University.
  • 04:32He has a special interest
  • 04:33in the treatment of patients
  • 04:34with cystic diseases of the
  • 04:36pancreas,
  • 04:37and he maintains an active
  • 04:38research program at Yale examining,
  • 04:41development of such cystic lesions
  • 04:42as well as the genetics
  • 04:44of those,
  • 04:45of associated pancreatic cancer,
  • 04:48and is seeking to improve
  • 04:49the outcomes of those patients
  • 04:51undergoing pancreatic surgery. So thank
  • 04:53you all for attending. And
  • 04:54I'm gonna hand it over
  • 04:56to Flora.
  • 04:59Thank you, Anne. Thank you,
  • 05:00Karen, for the warm introduction.
  • 05:01I'm delighted to be here
  • 05:02with my colleagues.
  • 05:05And I wanna say thank
  • 05:06you to all those tuning
  • 05:07in.
  • 05:08So why are pancreatic cysts
  • 05:09being identified more?
  • 05:12Well, virtually every American that
  • 05:14goes to the doctor with
  • 05:15abdominal pain gets an abdominal
  • 05:17CT. Or,
  • 05:19if you roll through ER,
  • 05:20you might be getting a
  • 05:21CT even if you don't
  • 05:22have abdominal pain.
  • 05:24So one study years ago
  • 05:25show that two point six
  • 05:26percent of patients found to
  • 05:27have a pancreatic cyst on
  • 05:30CT scan.
  • 05:32If you add abdominal ultrasound,
  • 05:34MRIs,
  • 05:36eventually, this leads to a
  • 05:38good number of cysts that
  • 05:39are identified every year, more
  • 05:41than half a million.
  • 05:43Next slide.
  • 05:45What is the challenge?
  • 05:46Well, there's multi
  • 05:49faceted
  • 05:50challenges here. So one,
  • 05:53finding a pancreatic cyst is
  • 05:54concerning for the patient and
  • 05:55their family.
  • 05:57With patients having access to
  • 05:58the health record on the
  • 06:00system,
  • 06:01They might be reading actually
  • 06:02their CAT scan even before
  • 06:03you you get to, read
  • 06:05the report. So that leads
  • 06:07to fear and angst.
  • 06:09It's challenging for the radiologist.
  • 06:11They,
  • 06:12hedge from time to time,
  • 06:14and, that's the basis on
  • 06:15which they operate daily.
  • 06:17So it is a hard
  • 06:18decision to eventually,
  • 06:20decide between an overcall versus
  • 06:22a realistic risk assessment
  • 06:24when they realize that there's
  • 06:26something wrong on the CAT
  • 06:27scan.
  • 06:28It's challenging for the gastroenterologist.
  • 06:31Thank you, James, for pointing
  • 06:32this out. It's tough to
  • 06:33decide who needs an endoscopic
  • 06:35ultrasound
  • 06:36and who needs to be
  • 06:37surveyed and how.
  • 06:40Of course, lastly,
  • 06:42but
  • 06:43most importantly, probably,
  • 06:45it's challenging for the surgeon.
  • 06:46Like any oncologic
  • 06:48disease,
  • 06:49it is a matter of
  • 06:50balancing
  • 06:51biology of the lesion, which
  • 06:53sometimes is not known,
  • 06:55with the comorbidities of the
  • 06:56patient
  • 06:57and certainly,
  • 06:59location of the lesion.
  • 07:00Pancreatic cysts reside in a
  • 07:02very high priced real estate.
  • 07:04A pancreas is surrounded by
  • 07:05very important structures.
  • 07:07And, obviously, considering the technical
  • 07:10aspects of the operations as
  • 07:11well, which, altogether
  • 07:14could lead to certainly a
  • 07:15tough decision to make.
  • 07:17So what are today's objectives?
  • 07:20Well, we're gonna learn about
  • 07:21cyst management and surveillance of
  • 07:23the pancreatic cyst.
  • 07:25We're gonna learn about the
  • 07:26most common pancreatic cyst and
  • 07:28their characteristic features.
  • 07:30We're gonna hear about what
  • 07:32tools we have to help
  • 07:33distinguish benign cyst from those
  • 07:34with malignant potential,
  • 07:36how helpful these tools are
  • 07:38and how to interpret them,
  • 07:40and hoping that,
  • 07:41we learn more about identifying
  • 07:44cysts at risk for progression,
  • 07:46which certainly provides a great
  • 07:47opportunity for early detection and
  • 07:49cancer prevention.
  • 07:53So a few words about
  • 07:54prevalence and incidence.
  • 07:56So, overall,
  • 07:57the risk of malignancy in
  • 07:59pancreatic cyst is zero point
  • 08:00five to one point five
  • 08:01percent, and the annual risk
  • 08:03of progression is about zero
  • 08:04point five percent.
  • 08:07So
  • 08:08the good part the good
  • 08:09news tonight is that most
  • 08:11pancreatic cysts are benign. Even
  • 08:13though we recognize and we
  • 08:15find actually, on imaging so
  • 08:17many,
  • 08:18most pancreatic cysts, the vast,
  • 08:20the vast majority are benign.
  • 08:21So if I want you
  • 08:22to take a home message
  • 08:24tonight, I think this
  • 08:26is underlying that they are
  • 08:28most of the times benign.
  • 08:30Only a subset, though, has
  • 08:31malignant potential.
  • 08:33So in,
  • 08:34imaging studies, we've been seeing
  • 08:36that prevalence is probably two
  • 08:38to fifteen percent.
  • 08:39Autopsy data suggests a prevalence
  • 08:41that's higher as high as
  • 08:42fifty percent.
  • 08:44And there are some premalignant
  • 08:46lesions
  • 08:47that were,
  • 08:48recognized as the, the sole
  • 08:51precursors
  • 08:52of malignant transformation
  • 08:53on cross sectional studies.
  • 08:55And those were introduced in
  • 08:56nineteen ninety six. The terms
  • 08:58mucinous cystic neoplasm
  • 09:00and intraductal
  • 09:01papillary mucinous neoplasm
  • 09:03were introduced at that time,
  • 09:05to describe the most common
  • 09:07premalignant cysts.
  • 09:09Historically and interestingly enough, back
  • 09:11in nineteen thirty four, pancreatic
  • 09:13cystic lesions were considered very
  • 09:15rare, and they became recognized
  • 09:17more common and potentially premalignant
  • 09:19over the years, over the
  • 09:20decades.
  • 09:23So here's a bunch of
  • 09:25studies that look at various
  • 09:27rate number of radiologic,
  • 09:29studies,
  • 09:30CAT scans and MRIs to
  • 09:32again demonstrate the prevalence of,
  • 09:35of defining,
  • 09:36a pancreatic cyst, which could
  • 09:38run from anywhere one to
  • 09:40forty.
  • 09:41One in forty to one
  • 09:42in three imaging showing pancreatic
  • 09:45cysts.
  • 09:46Again, the good news is
  • 09:47that the risk of cancer
  • 09:48at the time of imaging
  • 09:49is very low, zero point
  • 09:51twenty five percent.
  • 09:55A modern estimate of cyst
  • 09:56prevalence, this is from the
  • 09:57West Coast,
  • 09:59shows us that if you're
  • 10:00eighty years old, you have
  • 10:02one in two chances
  • 10:04to
  • 10:05be identified with the pancreatic
  • 10:06cyst on an imaging.
  • 10:08If you're seventy, one in
  • 10:09three.
  • 10:10If you're sixty, one in
  • 10:12four, and it goes just
  • 10:14like that. If you are
  • 10:15fifty,
  • 10:16one in five.
  • 10:17Majority of cysts are small.
  • 10:19Obviously, the risky ones are
  • 10:21those that are larger.
  • 10:26And here's the map and
  • 10:27placing some cysts on the
  • 10:29pancreatic map.
  • 10:31So
  • 10:32if you were to have
  • 10:33a cyst,
  • 10:34probably the best one to
  • 10:35have will be the serous,
  • 10:36cyst adenoma.
  • 10:38These are benign. They do
  • 10:39not have malignant potential.
  • 10:41They're easy sometimes to recognize
  • 10:43if they're classic on an
  • 10:44imaging. They have this central
  • 10:46calcification as you see on
  • 10:47this, pictogram.
  • 10:49And,
  • 10:50again, they,
  • 10:52do not pose a risk
  • 10:53unless they grow
  • 10:55in size.
  • 10:56Then we are dealing with
  • 10:58occasionally, with benign,
  • 10:59pancreatic cysts. Those are inflammatory
  • 11:01cysts, which you could see
  • 11:02in the tail.
  • 11:04And then we are dealing
  • 11:05with the mucinous cysts, which
  • 11:07are the IPMNs.
  • 11:09And you see here an
  • 11:11IPMN of the main pancreatic
  • 11:12duct and then IPMNs of
  • 11:14the side branch ducts
  • 11:17and the
  • 11:18mucinous cyst adenoma or pseudobapillary
  • 11:22neoplasm.
  • 11:23So the mucinous cyst actually
  • 11:25become
  • 11:29the most common cyst that
  • 11:30could transform into into cancer.
  • 11:34So talking about the benign
  • 11:35cysts,
  • 11:36they actually are about fifteen
  • 11:38to twenty five percent of
  • 11:39all the pancreatic cysts.
  • 11:41And the mucinous cysts,
  • 11:43amount to about fifty percent,
  • 11:47of, the cysts that are
  • 11:48found incidentally on imaging for
  • 11:50other indications.
  • 11:53So
  • 11:55when dealing with,
  • 11:56an asymptomatic patient who has
  • 11:57a pancreatic cyst,
  • 11:59one of the most important
  • 12:00aspects is identifying
  • 12:02what type of cyst we're
  • 12:03dealing with.
  • 12:06And
  • 12:07obviously,
  • 12:08considering,
  • 12:09the risk factors, comorbidities,
  • 12:11and then what strategy
  • 12:13will be employed
  • 12:15to treat this patient or
  • 12:17surveil
  • 12:17or follow-up over time. So
  • 12:20on the left side here,
  • 12:21you see the non neoplastic
  • 12:23cysts, the pseudocyst,
  • 12:26the inflammatory cysts. In the
  • 12:27middle section, you see the
  • 12:29neoplastic cysts, which could be
  • 12:31serous.
  • 12:33These have
  • 12:34no, molecular potential,
  • 12:36as in serocyst adenoma
  • 12:39or the mucinous,
  • 12:41cyst, which are the IPMN
  • 12:42and then MCN, the mucinous
  • 12:45cystic neoplasm.
  • 12:46So from left to right,
  • 12:50the malignant risk increases. And
  • 12:52on the very right side,
  • 12:53we have obviously the ductal
  • 12:55adenocarcinoma
  • 12:57and maybe a neuroendocrine
  • 12:58tumor.
  • 12:59So,
  • 13:01again, the risk of malignancy
  • 13:02here is higher.
  • 13:06Again, a pictogram to show
  • 13:08that when we are dealing
  • 13:09with a pancreatic cyst, we
  • 13:10wanna think first of what
  • 13:12type of pancreatic cyst we're
  • 13:13dealing with.
  • 13:15What is the risk? Malignant,
  • 13:17no malignant risk, or maybe
  • 13:18cancers.
  • 13:20And what is the strategy
  • 13:22we're going to employ to
  • 13:23manage this cyst?
  • 13:25Again, on the left side,
  • 13:26we have the the benign
  • 13:28cyst, the pseudocyst,
  • 13:29the sero cyst. These carry
  • 13:31no malignant potential.
  • 13:34And then in the middle,
  • 13:35we have the IPMN and
  • 13:37the mucinous cystic neoplasm. These
  • 13:39are mucinous cysts. Again, they
  • 13:40are the bulk of cysts
  • 13:41that eventually,
  • 13:43could lead to malignant transformation.
  • 13:45And then on the right,
  • 13:46the pancreatic cancer, the malignant
  • 13:48lesions.
  • 13:49So the strategy
  • 13:51depends on the type of
  • 13:52cyst,
  • 13:53and obviously could run from
  • 13:55no surveillance needed for the
  • 13:56benign cysts to
  • 13:58surveillance
  • 13:59and surgery, a combination of
  • 14:01those in the mid category,
  • 14:03the mucinous cysts,
  • 14:04and obviously surgery when we're
  • 14:06dealing with a pancreatic tumor.
  • 14:11What are the common types
  • 14:12of pancreatic cyst and characteristics?
  • 14:13Again, there are about more
  • 14:15than twenty epithelial and non
  • 14:17epithelial pancreatic cysts.
  • 14:20However,
  • 14:21the majority
  • 14:22belong to the six, histologic
  • 14:25categories that you see here
  • 14:26on this slide.
  • 14:28And I'm gonna slice it
  • 14:29for you so you take
  • 14:30away actually
  • 14:31the message. The top two
  • 14:33are benign. So they carry
  • 14:36no malignant potential, zero, as
  • 14:38you can see on the
  • 14:38right hand side. And these
  • 14:40are the pseudocysts and the
  • 14:42serocyst adenoma.
  • 14:45Pseudocysts are usually
  • 14:47diagnosed
  • 14:48in the setting of
  • 14:51pancreatitis. So people patients have
  • 14:53to have a history of
  • 14:54pancreatitis.
  • 14:56And the diagnosis of pseudocyst
  • 14:58in the absence of history
  • 14:59of pancreatitis should be made
  • 15:01very carefully,
  • 15:03since you might be dealing
  • 15:04with a different type of
  • 15:05cyst.
  • 15:07The,
  • 15:08serocyst adenoma,
  • 15:09predominantly in women,
  • 15:11occurs in fifth through the
  • 15:12seventh decade of life. They
  • 15:14are mostly asymptomatic. Again, they
  • 15:16carry no malignant potential.
  • 15:19And they have a typical
  • 15:21presentation when they are classic.
  • 15:23The challenge occurs when they
  • 15:24are non classic looking on
  • 15:26the imaging. So the classic
  • 15:27is sort of, with a
  • 15:29central calcification,
  • 15:31and they,
  • 15:32have no communication with the
  • 15:33pan pancreatic duct. They occur
  • 15:35in the body.
  • 15:36Pseudocyst, as you see, first
  • 15:38category are mostly in the
  • 15:40tail, in the, left side
  • 15:41of the the pancreas.
  • 15:44Then we have the middle
  • 15:45category, the next two, the
  • 15:46IPMN and the MCN or
  • 15:48mucinous
  • 15:50cystic neoplasm.
  • 15:52So these two are mucinous
  • 15:53cysts. They're the most prevalent.
  • 15:56And,
  • 15:57starting with the IPMN,
  • 15:59these are with, equal sex
  • 16:01distribution.
  • 16:02They occur, in the fifth
  • 16:04through the seventh decades of
  • 16:05life.
  • 16:07They may cause pancreatitis.
  • 16:09So, clinical pearl when a
  • 16:12patient presents with acute acute
  • 16:13pancreatitis,
  • 16:15and we identify a cyst,
  • 16:17doesn't mean that's a pseudocyst.
  • 16:19It could be simply the
  • 16:20cyst causing the pancreatitis.
  • 16:22The IPMNs
  • 16:24are of, few types. The
  • 16:26main
  • 16:27IPMN,
  • 16:28which carries a higher malignant
  • 16:30potential,
  • 16:31and the branch duct IPMN.
  • 16:33And there's also a mixed
  • 16:35type that involves the main
  • 16:36duct and the branch duct.
  • 16:38So
  • 16:39with the main duct IPMN,
  • 16:42they cause dilation of the
  • 16:43main pancreatic duct
  • 16:45and they have a hallmark,
  • 16:47when, when this is present,
  • 16:48the fish mouth papilla.
  • 16:50So when you look at
  • 16:51the opening of the main
  • 16:52pancreatic duct in the small
  • 16:53intestine, you would see just
  • 16:55as in in the photo
  • 16:56to the right,
  • 16:57you will see this fish
  • 16:58mouth papillae with, expression of
  • 17:00mucin since they're mucin productive.
  • 17:03The mucinous
  • 17:04cystic neoplasm
  • 17:06of the second one in
  • 17:07the mucinous category,
  • 17:09tends to involve
  • 17:10the tail.
  • 17:13It could be
  • 17:16it carries a malignant potential,
  • 17:18certainly,
  • 17:19but they are less common
  • 17:21than IPMN. So I wanna
  • 17:22highlight this early on so
  • 17:24you understand that,
  • 17:26IPMN
  • 17:26is the battlefield.
  • 17:28That's where most of the
  • 17:29hedging and most of the
  • 17:30debate goes on in terms
  • 17:31of how to manage them,
  • 17:33how to work them up,
  • 17:34and certainly surveillance to eventually
  • 17:37prevent cancer or intervene actually
  • 17:39when they develop high risk
  • 17:41features, intervene at the right
  • 17:42time to for curative,
  • 17:45intent with surgical,
  • 17:47approach.
  • 17:48So the mucinous
  • 17:49cystic neoplasms,
  • 17:51almost exclusively occurred in women,
  • 17:53and they,
  • 17:55occur a little earlier in
  • 17:56the fourth through the sixth
  • 17:57sixth decade of life.
  • 17:59They're mostly asymptomatic.
  • 18:01And, sometimes they have this
  • 18:03actual calcifications,
  • 18:04but not all the time.
  • 18:05About one out of four
  • 18:07of the cyst will have
  • 18:08that.
  • 18:10And
  • 18:12they
  • 18:13are
  • 18:15showing ovarian like stroma.
  • 18:18So they tend to be
  • 18:19a unilateral,
  • 18:20and they have a specific
  • 18:21presentation.
  • 18:23So the last two cysts
  • 18:25are less common, and I'm
  • 18:26not gonna go through them.
  • 18:27So we'll move on for
  • 18:29the sake of,
  • 18:30interesting cases we have,
  • 18:33next. I'll turn it to
  • 18:34James.
  • 18:35Right.
  • 18:36Thanks, Laura, for for a
  • 18:38great overview of these pancreatic
  • 18:39cysts, and thanks, Dan and
  • 18:40Karen, for the organizing this.
  • 18:43So,
  • 18:44for the next phase, I
  • 18:45just we just wanna focus
  • 18:46on how we approach these
  • 18:48pancreatic cysts. And as kind
  • 18:49of Flora rightly pointed out,
  • 18:51yes, there's a very long
  • 18:52list of pancreatic cysts, but
  • 18:53really where the battlefield is
  • 18:55is is in these IPMNs.
  • 18:56And the vast majority of
  • 18:57cysts that we're dealing with
  • 18:59are likely gonna turn out
  • 19:00to be some form of
  • 19:01an IPMN and likely some
  • 19:02form of what's called a
  • 19:03branch type IPMN. So we're
  • 19:04gonna use these terms interchangeably
  • 19:06when we talk about the
  • 19:07cases and kinda going forward.
  • 19:08That's really what the focus
  • 19:10is on. Not ignoring making
  • 19:11a diagnosis, serious diagnosis, and
  • 19:13so on, but really just
  • 19:14trying to focus on this
  • 19:15particular area.
  • 19:16So when we approach these
  • 19:17page patients and try to
  • 19:19figure out what do we
  • 19:19do, and a lot of
  • 19:20these patients are picked up
  • 19:21incidentally for on scans done
  • 19:23for other reasons, You know
  • 19:24before we figure out are
  • 19:25we going to do nothing,
  • 19:27follow them or or send
  • 19:29them for surgery, we have
  • 19:30to kind of make an
  • 19:31overall assessment of the patient's
  • 19:33condition,
  • 19:34competing health risks and so
  • 19:35on. And then also look
  • 19:36at some other pancreatic cancer
  • 19:38risk factors like family history
  • 19:39of pancreatic cancer. Does a
  • 19:41patient have a germline mutation
  • 19:42that would increase the risk
  • 19:43of pancreatic cancer? And then
  • 19:44it gets into the issue
  • 19:45of making,
  • 19:47a a a decision and
  • 19:48a shared decision making process
  • 19:50process
  • 19:51with the patient while we
  • 19:53assess the risk.
  • 19:54And the way we approach
  • 19:55this is really trying
  • 20:01IPMNs
  • 20:02into three broad categories. We
  • 20:03talk about high risk pancreatic
  • 20:05cyst or IPMNs, intermediate risk,
  • 20:08or low risk.
  • 20:11So we'll move to the
  • 20:11next one. So with respect
  • 20:13to the high risk IPMNs,
  • 20:15these are patients that have
  • 20:17cysts but in addition they
  • 20:18have imaging features such as
  • 20:20a very dilated vein pancreatic
  • 20:22duct at the presence of
  • 20:23a solid mass which would
  • 20:24be very concerning for that
  • 20:26this cyst has turned into
  • 20:27a malignancy
  • 20:28and even biliary obstruction. And
  • 20:29when we see these cysts
  • 20:31you know we're concerned we're
  • 20:32concerned that there's something significant
  • 20:33and serious going on And
  • 20:35these are the sorts of
  • 20:36patients that we would think
  • 20:37about sending to surgery or
  • 20:38at least for a surgical
  • 20:39evaluation.
  • 20:40For the next group of
  • 20:41cysts, the next slide,
  • 20:43these are the intermediate,
  • 20:44risk IPMNs.
  • 20:48And this is kind of
  • 20:49the intermediate group and these
  • 20:50patients have features on imaging
  • 20:52that are a little bit
  • 20:53worrisome to us. They include
  • 20:55things like well the duct
  • 20:56is a little bit dilated
  • 20:57not very dilated or there's
  • 20:58a change in calibre of
  • 21:00the main pancreatic duct for
  • 21:01example
  • 21:02or the cyst size is
  • 21:03actually greater than three centimeters
  • 21:04which would strike most people
  • 21:05as big but it's a
  • 21:06worrisome feature.
  • 21:07Maybe there's a small nodule
  • 21:09in the cyst,
  • 21:10maybe there's some lymph nodes
  • 21:11or maybe the cyst has
  • 21:12gotten bigger over time or
  • 21:14maybe over a year it's
  • 21:15increased in size by greater
  • 21:17than twenty percent or so.
  • 21:18And these are patients that
  • 21:19we classify as having intermediate
  • 21:21risk factors.
  • 21:23So for
  • 21:24these intermediate risk factors
  • 21:27what we end up doing
  • 21:28is evaluating them further. And
  • 21:29typically these are the types
  • 21:30of patients that would undergo
  • 21:32an endoscopic ultrasound. Really to
  • 21:34kind of parse out if
  • 21:35there's something more serious going
  • 21:36on. And I won't get
  • 21:38into too much detail about
  • 21:38the endoscopic ultrasound, but as
  • 21:40most of you know, it's
  • 21:41a type of endoscopy where
  • 21:42the camera is passed down.
  • 21:43We get very good views
  • 21:44of the pancreas throughout,
  • 21:46throughout its stages.
  • 21:48And one of its
  • 21:49great advantages is just visualization,
  • 21:52but another advantage is the
  • 21:53ability to biopsy these cysts.
  • 21:55And when we biopsy these
  • 21:56cysts, we're able to look
  • 21:57at the cells that we
  • 21:58get back from the cyst
  • 21:59fluid, but also a variety
  • 22:01of,
  • 22:02markers, including DNA markers that
  • 22:04have a very high specificity
  • 22:06and sometimes sensitivity
  • 22:07for not just making the
  • 22:08diagnosis of it being a
  • 22:10mucinous,
  • 22:11but also maybe telling us
  • 22:12that this is potentially a
  • 22:13high grade dysplasia or even
  • 22:15a cancer. So endoscopic ultrasound
  • 22:17is very useful again for
  • 22:18teasing out these, intermediate
  • 22:20risk,
  • 22:21pancreatic cysts.
  • 22:22Next slide.
  • 22:24But really kind of what
  • 22:25the the again the main
  • 22:26battle to get to get
  • 22:27back to this issue is
  • 22:28the other group. These are
  • 22:29the low risk IPMN. So
  • 22:31these are your cysts again
  • 22:32presumed branch duct IPMNs
  • 22:34that don't have a single
  • 22:35worrisome feature. They don't have
  • 22:36a single high risk feature.
  • 22:38And these make up the
  • 22:39vast vast majority of patients
  • 22:40these are the five millimeter
  • 22:41the ten millimeter cyst that
  • 22:43you see on routine scans
  • 22:44done for other reasons and
  • 22:46yes they are presumed branch
  • 22:47strict IPMNs
  • 22:49but you can see from
  • 22:49this data that if you
  • 22:50were to follow this group
  • 22:51of patients for long periods
  • 22:53of time or up to
  • 22:54five years,
  • 22:55yes, the cyst some of
  • 22:56the cysts will get bigger.
  • 22:57So some of them will
  • 22:58increase in size. The vast
  • 22:59majority do not.
  • 23:01The vast majority do not
  • 23:03end up ever requiring surgery,
  • 23:05and the vast majority
  • 23:06never develop into pancreatic cancer.
  • 23:08And therein lies the challenge
  • 23:09because it makes up such
  • 23:11a large volume. Patients are
  • 23:13worried, we're worried, everybody's worried.
  • 23:15So next slide.
  • 23:17So as a result of
  • 23:18this as we kind of
  • 23:19work through this process of
  • 23:20trying to stratify patients into
  • 23:22are they high risk, are
  • 23:23they intermediate risk or are
  • 23:24they low risk you see
  • 23:25how it it falls out.
  • 23:27So for the the high
  • 23:27risk patients, this is the
  • 23:29group of patients that we
  • 23:30would say, hey, we're concerned
  • 23:31about this group based on
  • 23:32their imaging. We need to
  • 23:33have a multidisciplinary discussion. We
  • 23:35need to have our surgical
  • 23:36colleagues involved in making decisions.
  • 23:38Is this something that needs
  • 23:39further workup and potentially surgery?
  • 23:41For the intermediate risk group,
  • 23:43we do further investigations including
  • 23:45endoscopic
  • 23:46ultrasound.
  • 23:47But for that low risk
  • 23:48group that's there, again, the
  • 23:49vast majority group, if we're
  • 23:50comfortable with the diagnosis, if
  • 23:52we're cult comfortable with the
  • 23:53imaging,
  • 23:54then we get into the
  • 23:55discussions of saying well maybe
  • 23:56we're not going to do
  • 23:57surgery, maybe we're not going
  • 23:58to do endoscopic ultrasound but
  • 24:00we're going to have to
  • 24:01follow you and how do
  • 24:01we follow you is a
  • 24:03real challenge.
  • 24:04Next slide.
  • 24:08I can cover these. So
  • 24:09the the key points that
  • 24:10we've talked about thus far
  • 24:12are the fact that pancreatic
  • 24:14cysts are common,
  • 24:15discovered at an increasing rate.
  • 24:18The goal which I think
  • 24:19has to be emphasized is
  • 24:20that we're trying to emphasize
  • 24:21that small percentage of cystic
  • 24:23lesions that are associated with
  • 24:25a substantial risk of cancer.
  • 24:27Combinations of imaging, symptom assessment,
  • 24:29laboratory tests could help distinguish
  • 24:31several benign cysts from the
  • 24:33low, intermediate and high risk
  • 24:34cysts that we've talked about.
  • 24:36EUS can be considered for
  • 24:38patients that have equivocal findings
  • 24:39when we're trying to figure
  • 24:40out the diagnosis,
  • 24:41but really for those intermediate
  • 24:43risk cysts. And then there
  • 24:44is a really significant role
  • 24:46for endoscopic ultrasound
  • 24:47and sampling these cysts to
  • 24:49not only diagnose, is it
  • 24:50a serosyst, is it an
  • 24:51IPMN, but also to risk
  • 24:53stratify.
  • 24:54And then this gets into
  • 24:55discussions of and we'll hear
  • 24:56from doctor Kunstman
  • 24:58about surgical evaluation,
  • 25:00as well as surveillance for
  • 25:01low risk cysts. Next slide.
  • 25:05And I'll hand you over
  • 25:06now to doctor Kunstman.
  • 25:09I'll be happy to introduce
  • 25:10the case,
  • 25:11the first case, for John.
  • 25:14So this is a ninety
  • 25:15year old male with worrisome
  • 25:16changes in presumed mucinous pancreatic
  • 25:18cyst.
  • 25:19He has a history of
  • 25:20previous urologic malignancies, prostate cancer
  • 25:22testicular seminoma, and remission developed
  • 25:25hematuria
  • 25:26in twenty twenty two, which
  • 25:27led to
  • 25:28imaging, and that revealed multifocal
  • 25:30pancreatic cyst.
  • 25:32He doesn't have any history
  • 25:33of pancreatitis or jaundice, no
  • 25:35family history of pancreatic or
  • 25:36BRCA related cancer, no diabetes,
  • 25:38no exocrine insufficiency.
  • 25:40John?
  • 25:42Oh, additionally,
  • 25:44some past medical history,
  • 25:46skin cancer, atrial flutter, dyslipidemia
  • 25:48GERD, hypothyroidism,
  • 25:50glaucoma,
  • 25:51surgical bisurgical history. Patient had
  • 25:53a right orchiectomy, radical prostatectomy,
  • 25:55an inguinal, hernia repair.
  • 25:57The medications are as listed.
  • 26:00He is married, semi retired.
  • 26:01He consumes one standard eTOH,
  • 26:04alcoholic beverage a day, and
  • 26:06he's a twelve pack year
  • 26:07smoker.
  • 26:09Yeah. I would say just
  • 26:10even before we advance the
  • 26:12slide,
  • 26:12if we could go back.
  • 26:14I mean,
  • 26:16and it's nice to meet
  • 26:17everybody, and thank you for
  • 26:18the lovely invites,
  • 26:19Karen and Anne.
  • 26:22You know, I think from
  • 26:23my perspective,
  • 26:24you know, obviously, a ninety
  • 26:26year old male being referred
  • 26:27to surgical oncology clinic
  • 26:29might raise some eyebrows,
  • 26:31but the history here is
  • 26:32really interesting. It was incidentally
  • 26:35found. And then to doctor
  • 26:37Farrell's points,
  • 26:38you know, he doesn't have
  • 26:39any of those worrisome findings
  • 26:41right away on the history
  • 26:42like pancreatitis, John does a
  • 26:44strong personal or family history,
  • 26:46of malignancy that might be
  • 26:48related to the pancreas. So,
  • 26:49you know, right away, I'm
  • 26:50already thinking this might be
  • 26:52a lower risk lesion, and
  • 26:54then maybe we can go
  • 26:55to the imaging
  • 26:56now.
  • 26:57So he was eighty eight
  • 26:58when this was found.
  • 27:01So just looking at his
  • 27:02scan,
  • 27:05I don't know if we
  • 27:05can scroll through it or
  • 27:07not.
  • 27:08There we go.
  • 27:09It's probably gonna go right
  • 27:11past it since it's on
  • 27:11a loop, but,
  • 27:13I'll just kinda describe as
  • 27:15it goes through there. You
  • 27:16know, the pancreas there in
  • 27:17the middle. You can see
  • 27:18the calipers going past quickly.
  • 27:21You know, basically,
  • 27:22what we see,
  • 27:24from my perspective
  • 27:26is three small cysts. They're
  • 27:28they're all very bland appearing.
  • 27:30The largest is sixteen millimeters
  • 27:32in greatest dimension.
  • 27:34There was no,
  • 27:35additional features that made us
  • 27:37worry like,
  • 27:38main duct dilation or nodularity
  • 27:41within the lesion like doctor
  • 27:42Farrell was referring to. There
  • 27:44was a tiny area of
  • 27:45calcification, but that alone doesn't
  • 27:47convey any,
  • 27:48significance. Now since,
  • 27:51the patient does have
  • 27:52an excellent quality of life,
  • 27:54he's still working. In fact,
  • 27:56his performance status is excellent.
  • 27:59Despite his advanced age,
  • 28:01he was recommended to undergo
  • 28:03surveillance.
  • 28:06So we can head on
  • 28:07to the next one. So,
  • 28:09as many folks do, he
  • 28:11got an early interval
  • 28:14repeat imaging study at six
  • 28:16months because
  • 28:17as alluded to by, Flora
  • 28:19and James, you know, the
  • 28:20size is a risk factor,
  • 28:22but one
  • 28:23independent risk factor is the
  • 28:25rate of cyst growth.
  • 28:27So,
  • 28:29our practice is typically
  • 28:30for presumed new IPMN without
  • 28:33any other worrisome features
  • 28:35is to get a six
  • 28:36month interval scan to determine
  • 28:38whether it's one that's rapidly
  • 28:39growing or not.
  • 28:42There was a little bit
  • 28:43of growth, nineteen millimeters, but
  • 28:45no other worrisome features. I
  • 28:46would just point out that
  • 28:48scan was ordered without contrast,
  • 28:50which is perfectly reasonable for
  • 28:52surveillance.
  • 28:53But if there are some
  • 28:54features that you're following in
  • 28:56particular,
  • 28:57contrast can be helpful because
  • 28:58enhancement of a nodule or
  • 29:00enhancement of septations within a
  • 29:02nodule,
  • 29:03those are are risk factors.
  • 29:05So he didn't have any
  • 29:06of those, so I think
  • 29:07an MRCP was perfectly reasonable.
  • 29:09And based on those findings,
  • 29:11he was recommended
  • 29:12to get another scan at
  • 29:14a one year interval.
  • 29:16So that was done in
  • 29:17twenty twenty three as you
  • 29:18can see.
  • 29:20The largest cyst had grown
  • 29:21again a little bit. You
  • 29:22know, the typical natural history
  • 29:24of these cysts is slow
  • 29:26progressive growth.
  • 29:28This time, the largest was
  • 29:30twenty two millimeters, again, with
  • 29:31no worrisome features.
  • 29:33Many times in patients
  • 29:35that are perhaps,
  • 29:37you know, younger
  • 29:38or, you know, really exquisite
  • 29:40performance status,
  • 29:41that two centimeter threshold oftentimes
  • 29:43triggers in EUS.
  • 29:46It did not in this
  • 29:47case after a shared decision
  • 29:49making conversation with the patient,
  • 29:52which I think was very
  • 29:53reasonable, but another annual
  • 29:55surveillance interval was recommended.
  • 29:58That scan, which we'll show
  • 29:59on the next slide, I
  • 30:01believe,
  • 30:02showed quite a bit of
  • 30:03change.
  • 30:05So you can see there,
  • 30:07you know, this is the
  • 30:08MR.
  • 30:09Now we're
  • 30:11seeing multifocal
  • 30:11mixed phenotype with both the
  • 30:13main ducts dilated
  • 30:15and multiple cysts clustering together
  • 30:18in essentially the entire pancreas
  • 30:20from the uncinate
  • 30:21all the way to the
  • 30:22tail.
  • 30:23So a number of concerning
  • 30:24features of progression,
  • 30:26with just one year of
  • 30:28surveillance, and he was recommended
  • 30:30to undergo in the US.
  • 30:32So he got that endoscopic
  • 30:33ultrasound,
  • 30:35that noted the cysts did
  • 30:37appear to be mucinous upon
  • 30:38aspiration.
  • 30:40And there was some nodularity
  • 30:42in the junction of the
  • 30:43body and the tail that
  • 30:45was biopsied.
  • 30:47That biopsy you can see
  • 30:49there,
  • 30:50red out is again a
  • 30:51mucinocystic
  • 30:52lesion, not not unexpected,
  • 30:54but there was dysplasia and
  • 30:56that dysplasia was high grade.
  • 30:58You know, high grade dysplasia
  • 30:59is essentially
  • 31:01the pathologist telling us that
  • 31:02they're seeing pancreas cancer like
  • 31:04cells. They're just not seeing
  • 31:05it invade into the underlying,
  • 31:08you know, pancreatic parenchyma still
  • 31:10within the cyst itself. Generally,
  • 31:12this is considered a very
  • 31:14high risk finding,
  • 31:15and it triggered a referral,
  • 31:17to surgery.
  • 31:21So I just wanna talk
  • 31:22briefly
  • 31:23for a patient like this,
  • 31:24what types of surgeries
  • 31:27might be a consideration? You
  • 31:28can see on the right
  • 31:29side, that cartoon there again
  • 31:31showing what we would call
  • 31:32a mixed IPMN where there's
  • 31:34main duct involvement
  • 31:36and branch duct involvement.
  • 31:38And in this case, again,
  • 31:39pretty much the entire pancreas
  • 31:41was involved.
  • 31:43The red star is about
  • 31:44where it is, where the,
  • 31:46dysplasia biopsy was taken. So
  • 31:48when we're talking about surgery
  • 31:50for IPMN disease, first and
  • 31:52foremost, the question is there
  • 31:54cancer there? Now, in this
  • 31:55case, we didn't have an
  • 31:56overt diagnosis of cancer, although
  • 31:58we did have a diagnosis
  • 31:59of dysplasia.
  • 32:00Certainly with any operation,
  • 32:02we wanna try and minimize
  • 32:04the future risk
  • 32:05that IPMN could convey to
  • 32:07the patient.
  • 32:08So in his case, the
  • 32:10entire gland was affected, so
  • 32:12there's going to be risk
  • 32:13regardless unless he undergoes a
  • 32:15total pancreatectomy.
  • 32:16Now we also wanna minimize
  • 32:18any complication risk. Generally speaking,
  • 32:20that means that, you know,
  • 32:21distal pancreatectomy
  • 32:23is a lower risk operation
  • 32:24than a Whipple procedure, but,
  • 32:26certainly the cancer and the
  • 32:28risk considerations
  • 32:29supersede that.
  • 32:31And then just alluding to
  • 32:32that total pancreatectomy,
  • 32:34we also wanna try and
  • 32:35minimize any long term effects
  • 32:36on the patient's digestive health
  • 32:39or metabolism
  • 32:40now.
  • 32:41Certainly, patients can and do
  • 32:43develop diabetes or exocrine insufficiency
  • 32:45after a pancreatectomy
  • 32:47of any size.
  • 32:49So it's important, especially from
  • 32:51a primary care
  • 32:53standpoint,
  • 32:54that those considerations are discussed
  • 32:56both with the patients
  • 32:57and their primary care provider
  • 32:59beforehand. And if if you
  • 33:01can mitigate some of them
  • 33:02by, say,
  • 33:03an additional referral or additional
  • 33:05conversation with a diabetes specialist,
  • 33:07etcetera, nutritionist,
  • 33:08Those are steps we certainly
  • 33:09take in our multidisciplinary
  • 33:10clinic. So, as far as
  • 33:12the operations themselves,
  • 33:14if you can hit the
  • 33:15the next button,
  • 33:17you know, Whipple procedure is
  • 33:18the resection of the pancreatic
  • 33:20head.
  • 33:21Now, as you may or
  • 33:22may not know, you know,
  • 33:23the way the reason a
  • 33:24Whipple procedure is done the
  • 33:25way that it is with
  • 33:26the duodenum being resected as
  • 33:28well as the lower part
  • 33:29of the bile duct is
  • 33:30all those structures, the duodenum,
  • 33:32the pancreatic head and the
  • 33:33lower portion of the bile
  • 33:34duct share the same vascular
  • 33:36supply.
  • 33:37So during the operation, the
  • 33:38gastroduodenal
  • 33:39artery gets ligated.
  • 33:41As a result, all those
  • 33:43structures,
  • 33:44then need to be removed
  • 33:45to unblock and and reconstructed.
  • 33:48Go ahead and hit next.
  • 33:51Conversely, a left sided operation
  • 33:52or a distal pancreatectomy,
  • 33:55doesn't require the reconstruction
  • 33:57that one would have with
  • 33:58a Whipple procedure.
  • 34:00You simply close the divided
  • 34:02neck of the pancreas,
  • 34:03either with sutures or staples
  • 34:05or a number of different
  • 34:06techniques. Generally speaking, when this
  • 34:08operation is done for any
  • 34:10risk of malignancy
  • 34:12or a known malignancy,
  • 34:13we perform a splenectomy
  • 34:15concomitantly
  • 34:16with that. Reason being, almost
  • 34:18all of the lymph nodes
  • 34:19in that area cluster along
  • 34:21the splenic artery and splenic
  • 34:22hilum.
  • 34:24So removing the pancreatic tail
  • 34:26alone for a cancer or
  • 34:27possible cancer
  • 34:29is not an oncologically adequate
  • 34:31operation.
  • 34:33Next. Yeah. And then a
  • 34:34total pancreatectomy.
  • 34:36So just a quick word
  • 34:37about that, you know, for
  • 34:39patients with
  • 34:40the entire gland being involved
  • 34:42with IPMN, that is a
  • 34:44consideration especially in a younger
  • 34:45patient where you expect them
  • 34:47to develop a cancer in
  • 34:48any remnant pancreas.
  • 34:51You know, I would say
  • 34:53it it is an operation
  • 34:54that obviously has severe long
  • 34:56term metabolic
  • 34:57effects for the patient.
  • 34:59That being said, in the
  • 35:00era of exocrine,
  • 35:02you know, enzyme replacements
  • 35:04and insulin pumps, you know,
  • 35:05this has been well studied
  • 35:07in our literature. Patient quality
  • 35:08of life is actually very
  • 35:09good.
  • 35:10But it does take six
  • 35:12to twelve months to resume
  • 35:13their preoperative quality of life
  • 35:15after a total pancreatectomy.
  • 35:17So why don't you go
  • 35:17ahead to the next slide?
  • 35:22So this patient's,
  • 35:24after a period of shared
  • 35:26decision making and imaging,
  • 35:28despite his advanced age,
  • 35:31was interested in undergoing surgery.
  • 35:34You know, I felt it
  • 35:36was appropriate given that his
  • 35:37performance status was as good
  • 35:39as most sixty or seventy
  • 35:41year olds,
  • 35:42and I felt his other
  • 35:43medical comorbidities could be well
  • 35:45managed.
  • 35:46And again, it was a
  • 35:47decision between the patient, myself,
  • 35:49the gastroenterologist,
  • 35:50and the primary care physician.
  • 35:53So he underwent an operation
  • 35:55where we remove the left
  • 35:56side of the pancreas, and
  • 35:57we extended it a little
  • 35:59bit because we wanted to
  • 36:00remove as much of that
  • 36:01main duct that was affected
  • 36:02by IPMN,
  • 36:04but we didn't wanna subject
  • 36:05him to a total pancreatectomy.
  • 36:07He had a little bit
  • 36:08of postoperatibilis,
  • 36:09but essentially no complications.
  • 36:12The main complication we watch
  • 36:13out for in any pancreatic
  • 36:15surgery is a pancreatic fistula
  • 36:17or leak. He had he
  • 36:18did not have that. You
  • 36:19can see the gross specimen
  • 36:21there that's been,
  • 36:22divided there in the pathology
  • 36:23lab and right dead center
  • 36:25in the middle.
  • 36:26Lo and behold, he actually
  • 36:27did have a fairly large
  • 36:29adenocarcinoma,
  • 36:31arising within the IPMN.
  • 36:34The surgical margins were negative,
  • 36:35so it was completely resected.
  • 36:38He did have one out
  • 36:39of forty eight harvested lymph
  • 36:41nodes that had regional disease.
  • 36:45So, you know, after surgery
  • 36:46in this particular patient,
  • 36:48you know, systemic chemotherapy is
  • 36:50generally considered standard of care
  • 36:53for any adenocarcinoma
  • 36:55of the pancreas. However, you
  • 36:56know, again,
  • 36:57at his advanced age, there's
  • 36:58certainly pros and cons, to
  • 37:00consider with the toxicity for
  • 37:02the multi agent regimens we
  • 37:03generally use now. So that's
  • 37:05an ongoing discussion.
  • 37:07He did not have any
  • 37:08issues with diabetes or exocrine
  • 37:10insufficiency.
  • 37:11People do need to be
  • 37:13vaccinated
  • 37:14if they are,
  • 37:16having a splenectomy against encapsulated
  • 37:18organism. Now he had an
  • 37:19excellent primary care physician,
  • 37:21so he was already actually
  • 37:22vaccinated,
  • 37:23for for his pneumococcal
  • 37:25vaccinations.
  • 37:27But we did give him
  • 37:28meningococcal
  • 37:29and haemophilus vaccinations.
  • 37:32And certainly, he'll undergo surveillance.
  • 37:34I think the take home
  • 37:35points for this case, this
  • 37:36is actually a great
  • 37:38demonstration of everything that Flora
  • 37:40and and and James had
  • 37:41talked about. You know, he
  • 37:42had a lesion that had
  • 37:43some risk.
  • 37:45It was felt to be
  • 37:46appropriate to surveil him. He
  • 37:48had some changes that triggered
  • 37:49a further workup that led
  • 37:51him to an operating,
  • 37:52to the operating room. And
  • 37:54ultimately, you know, we were
  • 37:55able to resect his pancreas
  • 37:57cancer before it metastasized.
  • 38:00So, you know, again, he
  • 38:01he was ninety, but I
  • 38:02do think it was the
  • 38:03right thing to do and
  • 38:04certainly he'll enjoy a survival
  • 38:05benefit from this intervention.
  • 38:08Okay. So I'll try and
  • 38:10get through the next couple
  • 38:11cases a little quicker.
  • 38:12Our second case is a
  • 38:14sixty four year old female
  • 38:15with history of ankylosing spondylitis
  • 38:17and increased epigastric
  • 38:19and back pain.
  • 38:21So,
  • 38:22HBI,
  • 38:24it's significant for chronic back
  • 38:25pain, but recent increased episodic
  • 38:28pain.
  • 38:29And careful,
  • 38:31ROS revealed that patient had
  • 38:33postprandial
  • 38:34exacerbation.
  • 38:36The primary care doctor ordered
  • 38:37a CT of the abdomen
  • 38:39and pelvis, and that revealed
  • 38:40a pancreatic cyst.
  • 38:42Also relevant is that patient
  • 38:45had remote history of pancreatitis
  • 38:47attributed to gallstones,
  • 38:49no history of jaundice,
  • 38:51family history of breast and
  • 38:53GYN cancer,
  • 38:54and no history of pancreatic
  • 38:56cancer,
  • 38:57no diabetes and no exocrine
  • 38:59insufficiency.
  • 39:00Additional
  • 39:01past medical history significant for
  • 39:03asthma, diverticulosis,
  • 39:04hypertension, Graves' disease, and attention
  • 39:06deficit disorder.
  • 39:08By,
  • 39:08surgical history,
  • 39:10she had cholecystectomy,
  • 39:11tonsillectomy, breast biopsy,
  • 39:13home medications,
  • 39:14as noted,
  • 39:17and by social history, she's
  • 39:19married, no tobacco,
  • 39:20and consumes
  • 39:21one to two alcoholic beverages
  • 39:23per week.
  • 39:27K. So, yeah, I think
  • 39:29hitting all the important points
  • 39:30again,
  • 39:31you know, in this particular
  • 39:34case, you know, the imaging
  • 39:35shows
  • 39:36a somewhat
  • 39:37concerning cyst for somebody that
  • 39:39had previously had imaging with
  • 39:41no cysts
  • 39:42in the past during workups
  • 39:43of her chronic back pain,
  • 39:46and that remote history of
  • 39:47cholecystectomy.
  • 39:49You know, here we have
  • 39:49this three point four millimeter,
  • 39:52or sorry, thirty four millimeter
  • 39:53cyst. There's no clear nodularity,
  • 39:55but quite thick,
  • 39:57walls with some enhancements.
  • 40:00In this case, you know,
  • 40:01kinda contemporaneously,
  • 40:03the the primary care physician
  • 40:05actually referred her to both
  • 40:07gastroenterology,
  • 40:09and to my clinic,
  • 40:10with these findings. And so
  • 40:12I,
  • 40:13had the luxury of having
  • 40:14endoscopic ultrasound being done at
  • 40:16the time she presented to
  • 40:17my clinic.
  • 40:20And as those we we
  • 40:22had the ultrasound done, but
  • 40:23we didn't have the biochemical
  • 40:25analysis
  • 40:26just yet.
  • 40:27So we spoke to her
  • 40:28about the possibilities
  • 40:29of IPMN
  • 40:30or MCN with a picture
  • 40:32like this. But what really
  • 40:34stood out to me was
  • 40:34the history of pancreatitis
  • 40:36in the distant past. Now
  • 40:37again, that had been attributed
  • 40:38to gallstones, which may have
  • 40:40been the case, but she
  • 40:41had now undergone cholecystectomy.
  • 40:43But the post prandial
  • 40:45exacerbation
  • 40:46of her pain,
  • 40:47really made us wonder a
  • 40:48little bit because pancreatitis that's
  • 40:50attributable to a cyst,
  • 40:52as alluded to can sometimes
  • 40:54be a diagnostic dilemma. Is
  • 40:55the cyst causing the pancreatitis
  • 40:57or is the cyst secondary
  • 40:59to the pancreatitis?
  • 41:00So
  • 41:01we sent her for the
  • 41:02EUS,
  • 41:03and those findings are as
  • 41:05listed there. In this case,
  • 41:06the CEA on biochemical analysis
  • 41:09was about as close to
  • 41:10zero as you can get,
  • 41:11And the cis fluid amylase
  • 41:13was quite high, and a
  • 41:14biopsy showed inflammation only.
  • 41:16So next slide.
  • 41:18You know, the way that
  • 41:19we would interpret that
  • 41:21is as a pseudocyst rather
  • 41:22than a mucinous cyst.
  • 41:25Interestingly enough, as we were
  • 41:26awaiting,
  • 41:28those biochemical results,
  • 41:30she actually ended up in
  • 41:31the emergency department after going
  • 41:32to a holiday party,
  • 41:34with serum lipase of over
  • 41:35a thousand as you can
  • 41:36see there after having a
  • 41:37few glasses of red wine.
  • 41:40So in this case,
  • 41:41the diagnosis was made of
  • 41:43acute on chronic pancreatitis
  • 41:45with pseudocyst formation.
  • 41:47We recommended the patient to
  • 41:49have a bland diet and
  • 41:50stop drinking,
  • 41:52and she basically returned to
  • 41:53her baseline level of of
  • 41:54back pain. It was quite
  • 41:55satisfied, and we did get
  • 41:57a follow-up scan to ensure
  • 41:58that things were improving,
  • 42:00which it did. The cyst
  • 42:02was gradually reducing in size,
  • 42:03which is the natural history
  • 42:04of most pseudocysts,
  • 42:06that are under about five
  • 42:07or six centimeters.
  • 42:08So this patient needs no
  • 42:10intervention and also needs no
  • 42:11surveillance other than,
  • 42:13you know, some reminders to
  • 42:15to be cautious from a
  • 42:16pancreatitis standpoint.
  • 42:18And, and and she moved
  • 42:20on with her life. So
  • 42:25Our next case is a,
  • 42:27patient with a worrisome cyst
  • 42:29and a frail patient.
  • 42:30This is a seventy three
  • 42:31year old female with left
  • 42:33lower quadrant pain who underwent
  • 42:34imaging revealing diverticulitis
  • 42:36and pancreatic cyst.
  • 42:38Diverticulitis was treated nonoperatively.
  • 42:40Patient is wheelchair bound, secondary
  • 42:42to chronic low back pain
  • 42:44and severe degenerative arthritis.
  • 42:47She has no history of
  • 42:48pancreatitis or jaundice. There's no
  • 42:50family history of pancreatic, BRCA
  • 42:52related cancers.
  • 42:54She has long standing type
  • 42:56one diabetes. She's actually on
  • 42:58an insulin pump, and she
  • 43:00has no exocrine sufficiency.
  • 43:03For,
  • 43:05other,
  • 43:05past medical history, dyslipidemia GERD,
  • 43:07obesity, hypertension,
  • 43:09radiculopathy,
  • 43:11by surgical history. She had
  • 43:12the gallbladder out, appendectomy,
  • 43:14and, foot fracture that was
  • 43:16operated.
  • 43:17Medications
  • 43:18as noted, statin, insulin pump,
  • 43:21an SGLT two inhibitor that
  • 43:22was in,
  • 43:24blood pressure,
  • 43:25medications,
  • 43:26anti inflammatory, pregabalin, tramadol probably
  • 43:29to manage her pain. And
  • 43:30by social history, she's widowed,
  • 43:32no tobacco or ATOH
  • 43:33she used, and lives with
  • 43:35an adult child.
  • 43:40So this was an incidentally
  • 43:42found lesion.
  • 43:44Just for the record, her
  • 43:45diverticulitis did resolve,
  • 43:47with antibiotics
  • 43:48only,
  • 43:49and she was referred to
  • 43:51my clinic.
  • 43:53And her pancreatic,
  • 43:56she really had a pancreatic
  • 43:57body, sis, a little error
  • 43:58there on my part,
  • 44:00that measured over three centimeters,
  • 44:03with some enhancements in the
  • 44:04wall. No clear nodularity,
  • 44:07but certainly one that would
  • 44:08be in that intermediate risk
  • 44:10category as doctor Farrell was
  • 44:12was, delineating earlier.
  • 44:14An EUS was performed that
  • 44:16confirms
  • 44:17the
  • 44:18diagnosis
  • 44:19as an IPMN.
  • 44:21You can see the CEA
  • 44:22level is quite elevated.
  • 44:25The amylase level is low.
  • 44:26A biopsy was performed. The
  • 44:27epithelium was bland. No evidence
  • 44:29of dysplasia.
  • 44:30So here we have an
  • 44:31intermediate
  • 44:32risk lesion. So what's to
  • 44:34do next? Kinda next slide.
  • 44:37Yep. So the diagnosis confirmed
  • 44:39as a branch deck to
  • 44:40IPMN.
  • 44:41As,
  • 44:43Flora was was alluding to,
  • 44:44you know, this patient was
  • 44:45quite frail.
  • 44:46When we evaluated in our
  • 44:47clinic,
  • 44:48she really had challenges with
  • 44:50the get up and go,
  • 44:51frailty test.
  • 44:53I would call her from
  • 44:54a from a oncologist point
  • 44:56of view, you know, ECOG,
  • 44:57you know, two on a
  • 44:58good day, kinda three on
  • 44:59a bad day.
  • 45:00She did ambulate some at
  • 45:02home.
  • 45:03And, again, you know, the
  • 45:04diagnosis of large branch doctor
  • 45:06IPMN, but without additional worrisome
  • 45:08features.
  • 45:10So we had a long
  • 45:11discussion with her, and and
  • 45:13these can be challenging discussions,
  • 45:14but it's important to understand
  • 45:16what people's values are,
  • 45:18how they view their quality
  • 45:19of life, etcetera.
  • 45:20Certainly,
  • 45:23even a distal pancreatectomy, if
  • 45:24done laparoscopically,
  • 45:26that risk is is,
  • 45:28still considerable.
  • 45:30It's a it's a major
  • 45:31operation, and we really felt
  • 45:32that that risk was prohibitive
  • 45:34for this particular
  • 45:35patient unless there was clear
  • 45:36evidence for a cancer there.
  • 45:38And even then, it might
  • 45:39not have been the right
  • 45:40thing to do.
  • 45:42You know, so oftentimes, the
  • 45:43way that conversation gets steered
  • 45:45is
  • 45:47if we were to discover
  • 45:48a cancer, we'd know that
  • 45:49you don't have a cancer
  • 45:50now based on our best
  • 45:53guess,
  • 45:54would you want that cancer
  • 45:55to be treated? Would you
  • 45:56want chemotherapy? Would you want
  • 45:57radiation therapy?
  • 45:59You know, if the answer
  • 46:00is yes, then it's very
  • 46:01reasonable to consider surveillance
  • 46:03with the understanding that if
  • 46:05there was a change that
  • 46:06was concerning before any treatment
  • 46:07could be rendered,
  • 46:09you know, they would need
  • 46:10to have a repeat biopsy,
  • 46:11and there would be options
  • 46:13for them that they could
  • 46:13choose.
  • 46:14But if the answer is
  • 46:15no,
  • 46:16and, you know, when explained
  • 46:18to a patient in this
  • 46:18way, they actually oftentimes do
  • 46:20say no. I say, yeah.
  • 46:21You know, doc, I'm I'm
  • 46:22just not interested in that
  • 46:23chemotherapy. If something happens, you
  • 46:25can manage my symptoms.
  • 46:28But but I'm not having
  • 46:29surgery. I'm not having chemo.
  • 46:31And expectant management is very
  • 46:33reasonable. And we, you know,
  • 46:34we give these patients, things
  • 46:35to watch out for and
  • 46:36the contact information.
  • 46:38But as,
  • 46:40said several times in this
  • 46:41talk, these are frequent findings
  • 46:42and, you know, this is
  • 46:43really a disease of older
  • 46:45patients.
  • 46:46So, you know, deciding where
  • 46:48we wanna deploy our surveillance
  • 46:49resources is oftentimes a really
  • 46:51meaningful conversation to have.
  • 46:53You know, in this particular
  • 46:54case, she did opt for,
  • 46:56continued surveillance,
  • 46:58but at a at a
  • 46:59low frequency. So
  • 47:04we'll pass it back to
  • 47:06doctor Farrell.
  • 47:08Great. Thanks very much, John.
  • 47:10So it's very, interesting cases.
  • 47:12So
  • 47:13I think it's also important
  • 47:15to stay as most people
  • 47:16realize that the the vast
  • 47:17majority of all cysts, not
  • 47:18just,
  • 47:19the IPMNs, never undergo any
  • 47:21sort of, you know, surgical
  • 47:22management,
  • 47:24but yet we make decisions
  • 47:25about following them. And this
  • 47:27is often a very confusing
  • 47:28area, and the guidelines have
  • 47:29been changing and will continue
  • 47:31to change.
  • 47:32The references here, if anybody
  • 47:34wants to email me, I
  • 47:35can send you the actual
  • 47:36article with this with this
  • 47:37table in it. But, basically,
  • 47:39surveillance for patients that you
  • 47:41decide or you're going to
  • 47:43survey
  • 47:44is really based on the
  • 47:46size of the lesion.
  • 47:48And so the smaller that
  • 47:50the lesion is, the more
  • 47:51likely you're gonna use noninvasive
  • 47:53imaging studies like MRI, MRCP.
  • 47:55The bigger the the lesion
  • 47:56gets, you're going to include
  • 47:58endoscopic ultrasound because those are
  • 47:59lesions you're concerned about may
  • 48:01maybe not planning to operate
  • 48:02on, but you're worried about.
  • 48:04And then over time, the
  • 48:06surveillance changes as well, whereas
  • 48:07upfront, we kind of get
  • 48:09more frequent imaging because we
  • 48:10are concerned about trajectory trying
  • 48:12to understand the cyst. But
  • 48:13over time, we back off,
  • 48:15especially if there's stability.
  • 48:17And as we'll mention very
  • 48:18briefly at the end, there
  • 48:19may now be some discussions
  • 48:20about stopping surveillance based on
  • 48:22stability as well. Next slide.
  • 48:25I have two cases, but
  • 48:26I'll quickly go through them
  • 48:27so you can just keep,
  • 48:29forwarding.
  • 48:29And I'll just you can
  • 48:30keep forwarding here. This is
  • 48:31just one of those cases
  • 48:32where it's a small
  • 48:34cyst, and you're saying to
  • 48:35the patient, oh, probably nothing
  • 48:37will happen, but you can
  • 48:38stop there. But over time,
  • 48:40this patient's cyst grew
  • 48:41and, ended up going undergoing
  • 48:43endoscopic evaluation.
  • 48:45The pancreatic duct got bigger.
  • 48:47And so this is a
  • 48:47young JIT patient,
  • 48:49with a relatively small cyst,
  • 48:51like eleven millimeters to begin
  • 48:52with. But ultimately, because it
  • 48:54grew and the duct size
  • 48:55was big,
  • 48:57the patient actually elected for
  • 48:58surgery. So go to next
  • 49:00slide.
  • 49:01And next slide.
  • 49:02And at the time of
  • 49:03surgery, again, for a patient
  • 49:04that started with a small
  • 49:05cyst over time go back
  • 49:07one slide. This ended up
  • 49:09being a, an IPMN with
  • 49:11high grade dysplasia.
  • 49:12Next slide.
  • 49:15This is one of the
  • 49:16more challenging patients. This is
  • 49:18like an eighty one year
  • 49:19old gentleman. So you can
  • 49:20begin to kind of have
  • 49:21that discussion saying, well, should
  • 49:22this patient even really be
  • 49:23in surveillance?
  • 49:24But this is your pickleball
  • 49:26playing eighty one year old
  • 49:27who comes into clinic and
  • 49:28wants everything done and is
  • 49:29adamant that they want everything
  • 49:30done. Often a very difficult
  • 49:32conversation.
  • 49:33But a patient with a
  • 49:34relatively large cyst and we
  • 49:36presumed it was branch checked
  • 49:37IPMN and greater than three
  • 49:39centimeters and so we do
  • 49:40these alternating strategies but we're
  • 49:42constantly saying to him look
  • 49:43you know we'll reevaluate this.
  • 49:45Next slide.
  • 49:47So in fairness twenty twenty
  • 49:49nine went by twenty twenty
  • 49:50went by twenty twenty two
  • 49:51twenty twenty three
  • 49:53He's now,
  • 49:55developed a second cyst in
  • 49:56the uncertain process, and his
  • 49:57original cyst has got a
  • 49:58little bit bigger.
  • 50:00Next slide.
  • 50:01And so he finally comes
  • 50:02into back into clinic, and
  • 50:04this time now, he's eighty
  • 50:06six years old, still healthy,
  • 50:07still tells me he's playing
  • 50:08pickleball.
  • 50:10But we wanna have one
  • 50:10of these discussions, and it's
  • 50:12kind of part of the
  • 50:12broader discussion about, like, I
  • 50:14think it's easier for us
  • 50:15to to get into surveillance
  • 50:16with patients, but the really
  • 50:18challenging thing is how do
  • 50:18we stop surveillance with a
  • 50:20lot of these patients? It's
  • 50:21an issue if it doesn't
  • 50:22make sense. It's resource utilization.
  • 50:24It's comparison with,
  • 50:25you know, their other competing
  • 50:27with their other medical,
  • 50:28issues. And so we had
  • 50:29the conversation with this patient
  • 50:30and said, look. You're eighty
  • 50:32six years old. I know
  • 50:32you're very healthy. I know
  • 50:33you wanna go all the
  • 50:34way, but let's let's bring
  • 50:36some sanity to the situation
  • 50:38and he negotiated himself to
  • 50:39one final endoscopic ultrasound rightly
  • 50:41or wrongly we said look
  • 50:42if that's completely normal
  • 50:45we're done we're gonna stop
  • 50:46next slide
  • 50:48Long story short, we sampled
  • 50:50both cysts.
  • 50:51One of them had high
  • 50:52grade atypia in it, and
  • 50:54the other had a molecular
  • 50:55marker in the cyst that's
  • 50:57very suggestive of an advanced
  • 50:58neoplasia. High grade
  • 51:03selected
  • 51:04to stop surveillance because of
  • 51:05other cardiac issues that arose,
  • 51:07and so that made the
  • 51:08decision. But just they use
  • 51:09this case just to illustrate
  • 51:11how challenging some of these
  • 51:12folks are,
  • 51:14especially when we're getting into
  • 51:15the the time frame when
  • 51:16we should really be backing
  • 51:17off surveillance, not just for
  • 51:19pancreatic cyst, but probably for
  • 51:20other diseases as well. Next
  • 51:22slide.
  • 51:23So back to this kind
  • 51:24of bigger topic
  • 51:26of stopping low risk,
  • 51:28IPMN pancreatic cyst surveillance. So
  • 51:30for sure we're not applying
  • 51:32this or not having this
  • 51:33discussion for patients with the
  • 51:34sorts of patients that John,
  • 51:36ends up seeing, patients with,
  • 51:37you know, large cyst patients
  • 51:38who are on their way
  • 51:38to surgery. But there are
  • 51:40these groups of patients with
  • 51:41one centimeter, two centimeter cyst.
  • 51:43And now there's an evolving
  • 51:44discussion that perhaps if they
  • 51:46are of a certain age,
  • 51:48maybe over the age of
  • 51:48seventy five, if the cysts
  • 51:50are stable for five or
  • 51:51ten years,
  • 51:52that maybe we should stop
  • 51:54surveying them because their long
  • 51:56term outcome is very similar
  • 51:57to the general population. And
  • 51:59so this is beginning to
  • 52:00creep into guidelines,
  • 52:02and there's more and more
  • 52:03data accruing. So I think
  • 52:04people need to be aware
  • 52:05of that. And, again, it's
  • 52:06probably one of the more
  • 52:07challenging things we we do
  • 52:08in PANCIS clinic is having
  • 52:10frank discussions with people about
  • 52:12stopping
  • 52:13surveillance. Next slide.
  • 52:15And so when we think
  • 52:16about stopping
  • 52:18pancreatic cyst surveillance,
  • 52:20there's multiple factors that come
  • 52:22into play. There's one group
  • 52:23of factors which obviously has
  • 52:24to do with the pancreatic
  • 52:25cyst itself. You know, what
  • 52:27type of cyst is it?
  • 52:29Has a patient had surgery
  • 52:30for the cyst before?
  • 52:32What does a cyst look
  • 52:33like? Do they have low
  • 52:34risk features, or are there
  • 52:36high risk features?
  • 52:37The issue of cyst stability
  • 52:38is very important because people
  • 52:40are beginning to understand that
  • 52:41maybe if cysts are stable
  • 52:43over a long period of
  • 52:44time, it denotes a certain
  • 52:46biology that may not progress
  • 52:48further.
  • 52:49But then there's patient factors,
  • 52:51and we don't really have
  • 52:51an absolute age yet. We
  • 52:53don't say seventy five, we're
  • 52:54done. Eighty, we're done.
  • 52:56But we certainly take age
  • 52:58into account. We take comorbidities
  • 53:00into account. Also, because some
  • 53:01of the comorbidities
  • 53:02influence progression like diabetes.
  • 53:05And then as John alluded
  • 53:06to, like, patient preference, this
  • 53:07is kind of shared decision
  • 53:08making. This is like, well,
  • 53:09what's important to you? Do
  • 53:09you really do wanna be
  • 53:10coming in for endoscopies and
  • 53:12MRIs for the next five
  • 53:13years?
  • 53:14But there's other issues maybe,
  • 53:16race and ethnicity kinda plays
  • 53:18into decision making as well
  • 53:19as ultimately resource utilization from
  • 53:21a health system perspective.
  • 53:23So this is an evolving
  • 53:24topic,
  • 53:25and I will leave you
  • 53:26with this notice that there's
  • 53:27a large number of, very,
  • 53:32expert and, well trained individuals
  • 53:34at Yale both on the
  • 53:35surgical side as well as
  • 53:36on the gastroenterology
  • 53:37side. But, also one of
  • 53:38the beautiful things about pancreatic
  • 53:39cyst, it's a really multidisciplinary
  • 53:41specialty. So we have wonderful
  • 53:42pathologists and radiologists,
  • 53:43you know, who help us
  • 53:44manage these patients. And so
  • 53:46I think the sorts of
  • 53:47patients that we end up
  • 53:48seeing in clinic in terms
  • 53:49of co management,
  • 53:51with primary care include next
  • 53:53slide.
  • 53:54You know, it is when
  • 53:55it comes down to trying
  • 53:56to figure out what type
  • 53:57of cyst it is, and
  • 53:58we can certainly help with
  • 53:58that. And again, the vast
  • 54:00majority of times, as I
  • 54:01said, these small cysts turn
  • 54:02out to be branched out
  • 54:03IPMNs.
  • 54:04But also how do we
  • 54:05help with those branched out
  • 54:06IPMNs?
  • 54:07At what point should we
  • 54:08be thinking about surgery?
  • 54:09When should we be thinking
  • 54:10about an endoscopic ultrasound, especially
  • 54:12for those intermediate features?
  • 54:14But, actually, what I think
  • 54:15is the larger and bigger
  • 54:16picture and the big, big
  • 54:17problem is trying to figure
  • 54:19out what to do with
  • 54:20all the low risk branch
  • 54:21direct IPMNs
  • 54:22and decisions about do we
  • 54:23start surveillance?
  • 54:25How do we
  • 54:26survey? How frequently do we
  • 54:28survey? And when do we
  • 54:29think about stopping surveillance?
  • 54:39We can
  • 54:40I was just, I was
  • 54:42just answering one of the
  • 54:43questions in the chat,
  • 54:44but, James, Flora,
  • 54:46I'm curious, before I type
  • 54:48anything to Jill?
  • 54:50You know, the question is,
  • 54:51can you talk about how
  • 54:52to use a one c
  • 54:53and c a nineteen dash
  • 54:55nine levels should PCPs be
  • 54:56ordering them for SIS follow-up
  • 54:58or or not?
  • 55:00You know, that's actually a
  • 55:01really good question.
  • 55:02There's arguments for following them
  • 55:04and and for not.
  • 55:06They generally are not included
  • 55:08as firm recommendations in the
  • 55:09guidelines.
  • 55:11My personal practice is for
  • 55:12somebody who is nondiabetic.
  • 55:14We don't follow the a
  • 55:15one c at all.
  • 55:18In terms of cyst surveillance,
  • 55:20James, I'm curious what you
  • 55:21do. And CA nineteen nine,
  • 55:23I like to get a
  • 55:24baseline
  • 55:25level and correlate it with
  • 55:26any imaging changes,
  • 55:29keeping in mind that nineteen
  • 55:30nine should always be sent
  • 55:32with concomitant
  • 55:33LFTs.
  • 55:36Somewhat similar. I think it's
  • 55:37a you know, to go
  • 55:38to the end of the
  • 55:39discussion and say it's a,
  • 55:41a very practical issue from
  • 55:43a patient management perspective because
  • 55:45we get the results back.
  • 55:46And a lot of our
  • 55:47patients have mildly elevated hemoglobin
  • 55:49a one c's, mildly elevated
  • 55:50c a ninety nines that
  • 55:51leads to other tests. And
  • 55:52so the question is, is
  • 55:53it really worth, you know,
  • 55:55going going down this road?
  • 55:56We know that c a
  • 55:57ninety nine is not a
  • 55:58great tumor marker for pancreatic
  • 55:59cancer, but I do agree
  • 56:00it's good to have a
  • 56:01baseline,
  • 56:02you know, just in case
  • 56:03it rises later on in
  • 56:05the patient's course. Because you're
  • 56:05gonna be following these patients
  • 56:07for four, five, six, ten,
  • 56:09fifteen years.
  • 56:10The hemoglobin a one c
  • 56:11and the diabetes is a
  • 56:12slightly different story because there's
  • 56:13growing data about the role
  • 56:14of just diabetes in accelerating
  • 56:17progression of patients with branch
  • 56:19of IPMNs, IPMNs, but also
  • 56:21the role of just new
  • 56:22onset diabetes as a risk
  • 56:23factor for the development of
  • 56:25cancer.
  • 56:26So it works kind of
  • 56:27both ways. Yes. It's a
  • 56:28it can be a good
  • 56:29biomarker,
  • 56:30but it can also be
  • 56:31a way of trying to
  • 56:31decrease that risk in these
  • 56:32patients who we're surveying. We
  • 56:34don't have all the data
  • 56:35there, but I think it
  • 56:36is worth following.
  • 56:37I think there are a
  • 56:38lot of patients out there
  • 56:39who, you know, I think
  • 56:40can obviously benefit from, you
  • 56:41know, healthier lifestyles and better
  • 56:44controlled blood sugars. It's certainly
  • 56:45challenging. But I do actually
  • 56:47monitor the hemoglobin a one
  • 56:48c a little bit more
  • 56:49closely than the c n
  • 56:50nineteen nine.
  • 56:53Fantastic.
  • 56:55And while we're on the
  • 56:56hour,
  • 56:57Flora, did you wanna say
  • 56:58something the last? Week. Yes.
  • 57:00Well, I have a question
  • 57:01for James, and,
  • 57:02that pertains to how far
  • 57:04are we in research these
  • 57:05days with endoscopic ultrasound and
  • 57:07using of,
  • 57:08laser optical cameras to get
  • 57:10a microscopic view of the
  • 57:12cyst wall. And is that,
  • 57:14in development? Is it coming,
  • 57:16down the pike soon or
  • 57:18using AI as well to
  • 57:19analyze the images and to
  • 57:20identify the high risks,
  • 57:23eventually with the cyst transforming?
  • 57:25Yeah. No. There's definitely a
  • 57:27lot of,
  • 57:31put small cameras into assist
  • 57:33to get more imaging. It's
  • 57:34still considered a research tool.
  • 57:35May not well be applied
  • 57:36to the to the broader
  • 57:38spectrum. I think there are
  • 57:40still,
  • 57:41exciting developments in understanding
  • 57:43how cells develop and how
  • 57:44they progress and understanding
  • 57:46if there's diagnostic tests, like
  • 57:47molecular tests that could help
  • 57:49us understand that. And, of
  • 57:50course, you can't get through
  • 57:52any,
  • 57:53conference these days without mentioning
  • 57:54the word AI. And so,
  • 57:56yes, AI is right there
  • 57:58in analyzing and coanalyzing with
  • 58:00radiologists,
  • 58:01MRI images, CT scan images
  • 58:03to kind of quickly get
  • 58:05to what are the worrisome
  • 58:06features, what are the high
  • 58:07risk stigma, or are things
  • 58:08being missed. And the very
  • 58:09kind of scary piece of
  • 58:10data
  • 58:11about the fact that for
  • 58:12some patients who go on
  • 58:14to develop cancer,
  • 58:16if you go back and
  • 58:17use AI to look at
  • 58:18their imaging studies with cyst,
  • 58:20you know, twelve months, eighteen
  • 58:21months before they develop cancer,
  • 58:23that there may be signs
  • 58:24there. So I I you
  • 58:25know, I'm classically
  • 58:28a late adopter, but when
  • 58:30it comes to stuff like
  • 58:30AI, I think there's great
  • 58:32potential. And so you'll be
  • 58:33seeing a lot more about
  • 58:34AI AI and imaging recognition
  • 58:36and so on when it
  • 58:37comes to the medical system.
  • 58:39Topic for for a a
  • 58:40future
  • 58:42Smilo shares. But I'm gonna
  • 58:43have to close this. We're
  • 58:44after the hour.
  • 58:46Thank you all for attending,
  • 58:47and thank you so much
  • 58:49for for putting on this
  • 58:50program. I learned a lot,
  • 58:52and take care. Bye bye.
  • 58:54K. Thank you. Bye bye.