Small
pancreatic cancers (longest diameter < or =2 cm) have been regarded as preliminary to early
pancreatic cancer, which was
thought to be highly curable. During our experience since 1989, we evaluated 542 cases of
pancreatic cancer. Among them we found 74 cases of
tumors < or =2 cm in diameter, small
pancreatic cancer (TS1
pancreatic cancer). Well-differentiated
adenocarcinomas (18.9%) and absence of symptoms (8.1%) were more frequent in
patients with TS1 than in those with larger pancreatic
tumors. Only 16 of the 74
patients (21.6%) with small
pancreatic cancers had T1
tumors. According to the International Union Against
Cancer (UICC) staging, only 11
patients (14.9%) were stage IA their 5-yr
survival rate was 23.3% and their median
survival was 30.0 months. Among these 11
patients, 3 had
tumors <1 cm; their median
survival time was 30.0 months and their 5-yr
survival rate was 50.0%. These findings may indicate that 'small'
pancreatic cancer is not equivalent to 'early'
pancreatic cancer.