Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 28, 2022; 28(44): 6310-6313
Published online Nov 28, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i44.6310
Comment on “Prognostic value of preoperative enhanced computed tomography as a quantitative imaging biomarker in pancreatic cancer”
Jian Yang, Ying Liu, Shi Liu
Jian Yang, Shi Liu, Central Laboratory, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Qiqihar Medical University, Qiqihar 161000, Heilongjiang Province, China
Ying Liu, Department of Medical Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Qiqihar Medical University, Qiqihar 161000, Heilongjiang Province, China
Author contributions: Yang J designed and wrote this report; Liu S gave guidance on article revision; Liu Y reviewed the literature and contributed to drafting the manuscript; and all authors issued final approval for the version to be submitted.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Shi Liu, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Central Laboratory, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Qiqihar Medical University, No. 27 Taishun Street, Tiefeng, Qiqihar 161000, Heilongjiang Province, China. shiliu2199@163.com
Received: September 29, 2022
Peer-review started: September 29, 2022
First decision: October 17, 2022
Revised: October 26, 2022
Accepted: November 16, 2022
Article in press: November 16, 2022
Published online: November 28, 2022
Processing time: 56 Days and 19.4 Hours
Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal malignancies because of its high invasiveness and metastatic potential. Computed tomography (CT) is often used as a preliminary diagnostic tool for pancreatic cancer, and it is increasingly used to predict treatment response and disease stage. Recently, a study published in World Journal of Gastroenterology reported that quantitative analysis of preoperative enhanced CT data can be used to predict postoperative overall survival in patients with PDAC. A tumor relative enhancement ratio of ≤ 0.7 indicates a higher tumor stage and poor prognosis.

Keywords: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; Computed tomography; Tumor relative enhancement ratio; Diagnostic imaging; Quantitative analysis; Prognosis

Core Tip: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is among the most lethal malignancies because of its high invasiveness and metastatic potential. The purpose of this letter is to highlight that a quantitative parameter based on enhanced computed tomography, namely the tumor relative enhancement ratio, can reveal the correlation between high malignant potential because of hypervascularity and poor prognosis in PDAC.