In Italy a strategic project of the National Research Council, called "Expert System in Medicine" is in progress; such a project supports the research described in this paper. It regards the design and the developmentof a Surgical Pancreatic Expert System (SPES) to assist oncologists and surgeons both in the pre-operative diagnostic procedure phase and in the intra-operative diagnostic procedure and surgical management phase, with regard to the pancreatic cancer problem. In this paper we discuss about problems existing in this particular area and why an expert system inothe surgery is suggested.

In Italy a strategic project of the National Research Council, called "Expert System in Medicine" is in progress; such a project supports the research described in this paper. It regards the design and the developmentof a Surgical Pancreatic Expert System (SPES) to assist oncologists and surgeons both in the pre-operative diagnostic procedure phase and in the intra-operative diagnostic procedure and surgical management phase, with regard to the pancreatic cancer problem. In this paper we discuss about problems existing in this particular area and why an expert system inothe surgery is suggested.