Patients with pancreatic cancer who underwent preoperative endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) did not have an increased risk of death compared with those who proceeded directory to surgery, a new study found. Researchers used Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) and linked Medicare claims data to identify patients aged >65 years with cancer localized to the head of the pancreas from 2000 through 2011. They found:

• Among 16,670 patients with cancer of the head of the pancreas, 2,890 (17.3%) underwent surgical resection; 1,864 (64.5) received preoperative ERCP.
• Patients who received preoperative ERCP did not have increased risk of death vs patients who underwent resection alone (HR, 1.02), after adjustment for confounders.