Zhi Ven Fong, Yasmin G Hernandez-Barco, Carlos Fernández-Del Castillo
J Gastrointest Surg . 2023 Sep;27(9):1988-1998. doi: 10.1007/s11605-022-05536-1. Epub 2023 Jul 26.
Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs) have become a very common diagnosis and represent a spectrum of disease that ranges from benign to malignant lesions. Presently, clinical and radiographic features are used to predict the presence of high-grade dysplasia and invasive cancer to inform treatment decisions of whether to pursuit surgical resection or continued surveillance. However, the natural history of IPMNs is still not completely understood, with guidelines from different societies providing contradictory recommendations. This underscores the challenge in balancing the risk of missing cancer with long-term surveillance and the morbidity associated with surgical resection. In this review, we aim to reconcile the differences in the guidelines' recommendations and provide a clinical framework to the management of IPMNs with hopes of adding clarity to how treatment decisions should be made. We also highlight recent advances made in the field and future efforts that can minimize rates of missing cancer while also reducing the number of unnecessary operations.