Pancreatic solid focal lesions: autoimmune pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer?

Purpose: The diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in treatable early stages continues to be challenging. Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) can, similarly to PDAC, present as a focal mass and, therefore, an accurate differential diagnosis is of crucial importance. Raised serum immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) levels, over the twice the normal value, are considered to be one of the significant diagnostic features of type 1 AIP. However, IgG4...