INTRODUCTION: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is one of the solid tumors with bad prognosis, and surgical treatment is the only one potentially curative. METHODS: In majority of patients the condition is diagnosed when already it is in advanced phase, commonly with metastatic disease. The introduction of new diagnostic methods associated with improvement of the already existed, created controversy in the relationship to the diagnosis and tumor staging. CONCLUSION: Thus, the role of surgery in palliative treatment and the technical aspects of the removal of the localized lesions, are far from having consensus in practice. A survey of the literature on the controversial aspects and an algorithm for the approach in patients with suspected pancreatic tumor are presented.
Pancreas; Adenocarcinoma; Diagnosis; Surgery
