Pancreatic cancer is one of the most insidious and deadly cancers. Most often diagnosed too late, it offers little chance of successful treatment. German scientists have developed an innovative laboratory test that could revolutionize its diagnosis. The results of the study were published in the prestigious journal The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 

In its early stages, pancreatic cancer does not cause any obvious symptoms, and nonspecific symptoms such as indigestion, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, or weight loss are easily overlooked. Unfortunately, the disease is often detected only at an advanced stage, when surgical treatment is no longer possible. Pancreatic cancer has one of the highest mortality rates of all cancers. The five-year survival rate is only a few percent, and experts predict that it will soon be the second most common cause of cancer deaths. 

After 12 years of intensive research, scientists from 23 German clinics—led by Professor Julia Mayerle from Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and Professor Markus M. Lerch from the Medical University of Greifswald – have developed a test that can detect pancreatic cancer in at-risk patients at a stage when the disease is still curable. 

The test is based on the analysis of blood metabolites and biomarker signatures, i.e., substances circulating in the plasma that may indicate the presence of cancer cells. In studies involving 1,370 patients, the test was up to 93% effective in ruling out pancreatic cancer, outperforming traditional tumor markers. 

Thanks to this new solution, it will be possible to monitor the health of at-risk patients without the need for invasive diagnostic methods such as biopsies or complex imaging tests. 

According to the authors of the study, if the test is implemented into routine clinical practice, patient survival rates could increase by as much as 30-40 percent. This is a huge breakthrough in the context of pancreatic cancer that has almost always been detected in a very advanced stage. 

The test still requires further validation and refinement before it can be introduced on a large scale, but it is already attracting considerable interest from the medical community.