Markedly elevated pancreatic cyst fluid cea: reconsidering its role in risk stratification

Abstract

Background: Pancreatic cyst fluid CEA plays an important role in the diagnosis of pancreatic cystic lesions. However, the evidence to date on its potential use in risk stratification for mucinous lesions is heterogenous. The height of the CEA elevation is currently being used in algorithms of commercially available pancreatic cyst fluid analysis (PCFA) platforms. Further, clinicians continue to have concern about patients with markedly elevated cyst fluid CEA. We therefore sought to examine the relationship between the height of the CEA elevation and the structural and molecular properties of the cyst and cyst fluid.