New Test May Find Early Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancer. Part of why it’s so deadly is that doctors usually don’t find it until it has spread to other parts of the body. After cancer has spread, treatment is less likely to work.

Currently, there are no screening tests to find pancreatic cancer at its early stages. A recent study tested new ways to detect early-stage pancreatic cancer.

Researchers looked at blood samples from 672 patients. These included people with pancreatic cancer and healthy people. The research team also looked at blood samples from people with other conditions of the pancreas, like pancreatitis.

The team found that people with early-stage pancreatic cancer had higher levels of two proteins in their blood. The new test looks for these two proteins. It also detects two other proteins that can be a sign of pancreatic cancer in some people.

The combined test was able to distinguish between patients with cancer and noncancer patients. It correctly identified those with cancer about 92% of the time. The test was also able to find early-stage cancers in about 87% of cases.

“Pancreatic cancer usually doesn’t present with symptoms until it’s too late for surgery,” says Dr. Kenneth Zaret of the University of Pennsylvania. A test that finds pancreatic cancer early on could increase a person’s chances of getting treatment and surviving.

More research is needed to confirm this study’s results in larger groups of people.