Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas (IPMN) are increasingly recognized in clinical practice.

They represent a unique clinicopathologic entity that is characterized by mucin production, cystic dilation of the pancreatic ducts, and intraductal papillary growth. The World Health Organization recognized IPMN as a distinct clinical entity in 1996. Recent literature suggests that up to 45% of IPMN are malignant and should be resected; however these data are based on larger, primarily symptomatic lesions. Several studies have been published in the recent literature reporting single-center experience with IPMN resections and observations with small numbers of patients. The natural history of these lesions and risk of malignancy is still vague. Consensus guidelines for management of IPMN were published in 2006, but noted the limited knowledge available in six areas: definition and classification, preoperative evaluation, indication for resection, method of resection, histological data on frozen section/positive margins and specimen processing, and finally, method of follow-up.

Speaking to this need, we propose an international registry for multi-center collaboration in the above areas of need in IPMN research and clinical management. This will be through a centralized, web-based registry with data entered by each center in a de-identified way to protect confidentiality. The data collected from the IRB approved retrospective chart review IRB# 07-007202 will be incorporated into this data base. Any patients that participate in the prospective study will be consented with HIPPA consent prior to collection of data.