Blood test may spot pancreatic cancer earlier

Researchers at the MD Anderson Cancer Centre at the University of Texas, Houston, have unveiled a new blood test that may help doctors diagnose pancreatic cancer at an earlier stage, thus improving a patient's chance of survival. According to study author Dr. Ayumu Taguchi, the blood test aids in ruling out suspected cases of pancreatic cancer, thereby not requiring patients to undergo evasive screening procedures. While a larger trial is currently underway, initial results indicate that this test enabled the identification of four markers of "identified cases of pancreatic cancer nine out of 10 times, sorting malignancies from other diseases like chronic pancreatitis or pancreatic cysts." To read more about this study, presenetd on May 19, 2014 at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Special Conference in New Orleans, click here.