Pancreatic cancer represents a group of cancers with the worst prognosis. There exists only one method of successful therapy - radical surgery, i.e. the complete resection of the tumor. However, only 5 % of cases are diagnosed in the early stage. More than 60 % are recognised in the period of advanced disease. For those patients only palliative treatment can be used. Only early diagnosis can ensure better therapy results. Possibility of early diagnosis based on imaging and endoscope methods is at present very limited due to the anatomical location of pancreas. Serum tumor markers assessment might represent one of the possibilities of early detection of the pancreatic cancer. Review summarizes current knowledge on the use of tumor markers for diagnosis, prognosis and therapy monitoring of pancreatic exocrine adenocarcinomas with respect to the clinical use at the daily routine practice.

        Key words: pancreatic adenocarcinoma, tumor markers, CA 19-9.