The effect of medications associated with drug-induced pancreatitis on pancreatic cancer risk: A nested case-control study of routine Scottish data

Risk characterization of N-nitrosodimethylamine in pharmaceuticals

Since 2018, N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) has been a reported contaminant in numerous pharmaceutical products. To guide the pharmaceutical industry, FDA identified an acceptable intake (AI) of 96 ng/day NDMA. The approach assumed a linear extrapolation from the Carcinogenic Potency Database (CPDB) harmonic-mean TD50 identified in chronic studies in rats. Although NDMA has been thought to act as a mutagenic carcinogen in experimental animals, it has not been classified as a known human carcinogen by any regulatory agency. Humans are exposed to high daily exogenous and endogenous doses of NDMA. Due to the likelihood of a threshold dose for NDMA-related tumors in animals, we believe that there is ample scientific basis to utilize the threshold-based benchmark dose or point-of-departure (POD) approach when estimating a Permissible Daily Exposure limit (PDE) for NDMA. We estimated that 29,000 ng/kg/day was an appropriate POD for calculating a PDE. Assuming an average bodyweight of 50 kg, we expect that human exposures to NDMA at doses below 5800 ng/day in pharmaceuticals would not result in an increased risk of liver cancer, and that there is little, if any, risk for any other type of cancer, when accounting for the mode-of-action in humans.

Stocky/Packed Pancreas: A Case of Focal Drug-Induced Acute Pancreatitis Mimicking Cancer

Drug-induced acute pancreatitis (DIP) is a recognised but underreported entity in the literature. Immunotherapy drugs have been described as one possible emerging cause, although the pathogenic mechanism is still largely unclear. To date, only a few cases have been reported, even if in recent times there is an over-increasing awareness of this pathologic entity. The imaging-based diagnosis of DIP can be difficult to establish, representing a real challenge for a radiologist, especially when the inflammatory disease appears as a focal mass suspicious for a malignancy. Case report: We herein report the case of a 71-year-old man with a known history of partially responsive lung adenocarcinoma subtype with high programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, who underwent positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) imaging follow-up after one year of immunotherapy. The exam revealed a stocky/packed lesion in the pancreatic body, with increased 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) accumulation highly suggestive of pancreatic cancer, which finally was proven to be a DIP induced by immunotherapy. Conclusion: Distinguishing between focal DIP and pancreatic neoplasm is, therefore, crucial for timely therapeutic management and prognostic stratification. A deep knowledge of possible imaging pitfalls coupled with a comprehensive clinical and laboratory assessment is pivotal to avoid any delays in diagnosis.