Current Pathology Model of Pancreatic Cancer

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Pancreatic cancer is a very aggressive and lethal malignant neoplasm with overall 5-year survival rates below 10%. The field of pancreatic cancer research is rapidly evolving. Reports of newly revealed pathomechanisms of the nature of these tumors are published daily. Nevertheless, many aspects of a pathologic evaluation are still uncertain. It is crucial to be able to pull out practical information that impacts the diagnostic process, called a pathologic evaluation. In this review, we comprehensively summarize some of the recent papers from the pathologists’ and clinicians’ points of view. We specifically focus on pathology assessment and reporting, to make them meaningful for clinical and research purposes. Lastly, we highlight novel diagnostic and research approaches, point out some missing pieces in the field, and suggest further study directions. ABSTRACT: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most aggressive and lethal malignant neoplasms, ranking in seventh place in the world in terms of the incidence of death, with overall 5-year survival rates still below 10%. The knowledge about PC pathomechanisms is rapidly expanding. Daily reports reveal new aspects of tumor biology, including its molecular and morphological heterogeneity, explain complicated “cross-talk” that happens between the cancer cells and tumor stroma, or the nature of the PC-associated neural remodeling (PANR). Staying up-to-date is hard and crucial at the same time. In this review, we are focusing on a comprehensive summary of PC aspects that are important in pathologic reporting, impact patients’ outcomes, and bring meaningful information for clinicians. Finally, we show promising new trends in diagnostic technologies that might bring a difference in PC early diagnosis.