differential diagnosis

Last reviewed 03/2022

Chronic pancreatitis must be differentiated from pancreatic carcinoma, usually on the basis of ultrasound or CT. Other potentially useful tests for differentiation of these conditions include cytologic examination of pancreatic - duct fluid, fine needle biopsy of the pancreas, and measurement of tumour markers for pancreatic carcinoma e.g. carcinoembryonic antigen and CA19-9 (although these are not pathognomic for pancreatic cancer).