Pancreatic head mass: the pathological diagnosis and surgical decision making MIAO Yi, CHEN Jian-min. Pancreatic Surgery Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing210029, China Corresponding author: MIAO Yi, E-mail: miaoyi@njmu, edu.cn Abstract Pancreatic head mass sometimes is difficulty to make a definite diagnosis and influences our surgical decision making. The relationship of the pathological results with surgical procedure was discussed , and different pre-operative & intra-operative pathological diagnostic methods including the core biopsy maneuver were evaluated. It was concluded that the core biopsy technique was quick, safe, effective and accurate method for the diagnosis of the pancreatic head mass, and it could provide credible evidence for surgical decision making.