Clinical Impact of the KL-6 Concentration of Pancreatic Juice for Diagnosing Pancreatic Masses

• Main Authors: Kazuya Matsumoto, Yohei Takeda, Kenichi Harada, Takumi Onoyama, Soichiro Kawata, Yasushi Horie, Teruhisa Sakamoto, Masaru Ueki, Norimasa Miura, Yoshikazu Murawaki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2015-01-01
• Series: BioMed Research International
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/528304

Background and Aim. Pancreatic juice cytology (PJC) is considered optimal for differentially diagnosing pancreatic masses, but the accuracy of PJC ranges from 46.7% to 93.0%. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical impact of measuring the KL-6 concentration of pancreatic juice for diagnosing pancreatic masses. Methods. PJC and the KL-6 concentration measurements of pancreatic juice were performed for 70 consecutive patients with pancreatic masses (39 malignancies and 31 benign). Results. The average KL-6 concentration of pancreatic juice was significantly higher for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDACs) (167.7±396.1 U/mL) and intraductal papillary mucinous carcinomas (IPMCs) (86.9±21.1 U/mL) than for pancreatic inflammatory lesions (17.5±15.7 U/mL, P=0.034) and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (14.4±2.0 U/mL, P=0.026), respectively. When the cut-off level of the KL-6 concentration of pancreatic juice was 16 U/mL, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the KL-6 concentration of pancreatic juice alone were 79.5%, 64.5%, and 72.9%, respectively. Adding the KL-6 concentration of pancreatic juice to PJC when making a diagnosis caused the values of sensitivity and accuracy of PJC to increase by 15.3% (P=0.025) and 8.5% (P=0.048), respectively. Conclusions. The KL-6 concentration of pancreatic juice may be as useful as PJC for diagnosing PDACs.