Identifying the neck margin status of ductal adenocarcinoma in the pancreatic head by multiphoton microscopy

Abstract

Abstract Complete surgical resection is the only option for improving the survival of patients with ductal adenocarcinoma in the pancreatic head. After resection, determining the status of resection margins (RMs) is crucial for deciding on the nature of the follow-up treatment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether multiphoton microscopy (MPM) could be considered a reliable tool for determining the status of pancreatic neck margins by identifying tumour cells of ductal adenocarcinoma in these margins in the pancreatic head, and our results were affirmative. In particular, MPM could identify tumour cells in the nerves. It was also found that the quantification of the difference between normal duct cells and tumour cells was possible. In addition, the content of collagen could be quantified and used as a marker for differentiating ductal adenocarcinoma in the pancreatic head from normal pancreatic tissues, eventually leading to the identification of R0 and R1 resections of the pancreatic neck margin. With the development of the clinical applications of the multiphoton endoscope, MPM has the potential to provide in vivo real-time identification of RM status during surgery.