Xu Y, Huang XB, He YG. Letter to the Editor: Integrating inflammation, nutrition, and imaging: A step forward in predicting lymph node metastasis for pancreatic cancer. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2026; 18(8): 117006 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.117006]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Yong-Gang He, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Hepatobiliary, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University, No. 83 Xinqiaozheng Street, Chongqing 400037, China. xqyyhyg@tmmu.edu.cn
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Gastroenterology & Hepatology
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letter
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Xu Y, Huang XB, He YG. Letter to the Editor: Integrating inflammation, nutrition, and imaging: A step forward in predicting lymph node metastasis for pancreatic cancer. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2026; 18(8): 117006 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.117006]
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Aug 15, 2026; 18(8): 117006 Published online Aug 15, 2026. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.117006
Letter to the Editor: Integrating inflammation, nutrition, and imaging: A step forward in predicting lymph node metastasis for pancreatic cancer
Yan Xu, Xiao-Bing Huang, Yong-Gang He
Yan Xu, Xiao-Bing Huang, Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University, Chongqing 400037, China
Yong-Gang He, Department of Hepatobiliary, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University, Chongqing 400037, China
Co-corresponding authors: Xiao-Bing Huang and Yong-Gang He.
Author contributions: Xu Y drafted and edited the manuscript; Huang XB and He YG contribute equally to this study as co-corresponding authors; Huang XB and He YG contributed to the conceptualization of the study and the critical review of the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
AI contribution statement: DeepSeek was used exclusively for language refinement. The tool was not involved in hypothesis generation, study design, data interpretation, or conclusion formulation.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Corresponding author: Yong-Gang He, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Hepatobiliary, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University, No. 83 Xinqiaozheng Street, Chongqing 400037, China. xqyyhyg@tmmu.edu.cn
Received: November 26, 2025 Revised: January 4, 2026 Accepted: January 22, 2026 Published online: August 15, 2026 Processing time: 246 Days and 12.3 Hours
Abstract
The integrative model developed by Wang et al has the potential to reshape preoperative management of pancreatic cancer. Its primary contribution extends beyond incremental gains in predictive accuracy to demonstrate that readily available, low-cost clinical data can perform comparably to far more complex and resource-intensive approaches. By doing so, this work broadens access to precision medicine and directly challenges the prevailing assumption that meaningful innovation must rely on novel or expensive biomarkers.
Core Tip: This study exemplifies a model of “accessible precision medicine” in pancreatic cancer. It demonstrates that accurate prediction of lymph node metastasis does not require advanced or costly technologies, but can instead be achieved through the strategic integration of routine, low-cost clinical data, thereby broadening the applicability of personalized oncology.
