According to a story from publicnow.com, a recent study suggests that it is possible for pancreatic cancer to be diagnosed with a breath test. The discovery could allow for this deadly cancer to be detected earlier, which would mean that treatment could begin earlier and produce far better outcomes for patients.
About Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer can appear within or on the pancreas, which is a glandular organ that is located behind the stomach. The pancreas plays a role in the digestive system and endocrine systems of the body. A direct cause for pancreatic cancer has not been found, but there are several risk factors that can increase a person’s risk of getting it. These include being male, old age, and being African American (the disease is rarer in Africa itself, however). Obesity, a diet high in red meat, processed meat, or meat cooked at high temperatures, family history, pancreatitis, drinking alcohol, diabetes, and smoking cigarettes also increases the risk. Pancreatic cancer rarely causes symptoms in early stages, meaning it is frequently detected when the disease is advanced and has begun to spread. Five year survival rate is poor in most cases at just five percent. To learn more about pancreatic cancer, click here.
Why Early Detection Matters
Detecting pancreatic cancer earlier is an urgent medical need; in cases that are detected earlier, five year survival increases to 20 percent. While this boost in percentage is still not huge, it is still vastly better than five percent. Early detection improves patient’s chances of surviving pancreatic cancer.
The Study
In the study, the scientists were able to isolate twelve compounds in breath samples from patients with both metastatic (spreading) and localized pancreatic cancer. These twelve compounds were found to be diagnostic of pancreatic cancer. The study involved a total of 68 participants, including a control group that did not have cancer. The 12 diagnostic compounds were identified by comparing breath test samples from cancer patients and people that were cancer free.
While the results seem to reveal that a breath test can be used to diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier, the researchers recommend that larger scale clinical trials should be conducted in order to validate the study findings.
You can check out the full study here.
