Obtaining biopsies (including pre-treatment puncture samples and surgical resection samples) has always been the “gold standard” for clinical diagnosis and treatment of cancer. However, due to the complex anatomical location of the pancreas, which is the most posterior of the abdominal organs, and the unique biological characteristics of pancreatic cancer, which is rich in mesenchymal stroma, it is difficult to obtain sufficient biopsies for clinical diagnosis or staging by puncture technique. The Institute of Pancreatic Oncology of Fudan University retrospectively analyzed prospective data of 1,088 clinically confirmed pancreatic cancer cases in 31 hospitals (multicenter) in Shanghai from 2006 to 2011 and found that the pathological diagnosis rate of pancreatic cancer patients in Shanghai was only 20% over a 5-year period, and the puncture diagnosis rate was less than 5% (Cancer Letts, 2014). This situation may lead to a considerable number of benign pancreatic tumors, mass pancreatitis, autoimmune pancreatitis and other “benign” patients being “misdiagnosed and mistreated” as pancreatic cancer. Commissioned by the Pancreatic Cancer Committee of China Anti-Cancer Association, the group of Professors Ni Quanxing, Yu XianF and Liu Liang, on behalf of the Institute of Pancreatic Oncology of Fudan University, launched a set of “Chinese Clinical Diagnostic Criteria for Pancreatic Cancer” in 2012, including “Chinese Clinical Diagnostic Criteria and Grading Criteria for Pancreatic Cancer”. It aims to improve the accuracy and reliability of pancreatic cancer diagnosis by carrying out a comprehensive assessment of serology and imaging for the few patients who cannot be diagnosed pathologically. This assessment method systematically summarized the clinicopathological characteristics of Chinese pancreatic cancer patients and was elaborated in the Chinese Journal of Cancer, a core journal in China, in that year. After nearly 5 years of follow-up study, the diagnostic criteria were found to have a compliance rate of more than 95% with the final pathological diagnosis, providing an alternative diagnostic technique for most Chinese patients with pancreatic cancer.