Dr. Tempero Discusses Screening for Pancreatic Cancer

Margaret A. Tempero, MD, director, Pancreas Center, University of California, San Francisco, discusses screening tools used for patients at high risk for pancreatic cancer.

Tempero says patients who are at high risk for pancreatic cancer are screened using endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) or magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP). MRCP does not expose the patient to radiation and is non-invasive but EUS gives the physician a clear image of the pancreas while giving the physician the option of taking a biopsy at the time of the procedure.

Tempero says it probably does not matter which procedure is done for screening, as long as the screening is done on a regular basis by an experienced individual who can interpret the images.