A recent study led by the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center has found that surveillance programs for high-risk individuals can detect pancreatic cancers early.
This is significant because pancreatic cancers are more treatable when caught at the initial stages.
The study, called Cancer of Pancreas Screening-5 (CAPS5), involved 1,461 individuals considered at high risk of developing pancreatic cancer.
These participants underwent annual pancreatic imaging tests at Johns Hopkins Medicine and seven other medical centers.
Key Findings
Out of all the participants, ten were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Remarkably, seven out of these ten patients were diagnosed with the disease at the first stage, and they are alive even after a median follow-up of 2.6 years.
“If they maintained their surveillance, a clear majority of patients in the CAPS program diagnosed with pancreatic cancer were detected at the disease’s first stage,” said senior study author Michael Goggins, M.B.B.Ch., M.D., the Sol Goldman Professor of Pancreatic Cancer Research and director of the Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection Laboratory.
Implications of the Study
Usually, patients who show symptoms already have later-stage pancreatic cancer. Very few have their disease detected at stage I.
The CAPS5 study, combined with previous Johns Hopkins Medicine CAPS studies, reveals that regular surveillance can catch the disease earlier.
Goggins pointed out, “Many of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer under surveillance can potentially be cured. On the other hand, people who dropped off their surveillance had poor survival rates.
Our results support the CAPS surveillance recommendation that those who meet the criteria should undergo regular screenings.”
The Participants and Their Health Status
The CAPS5 study enrolled individuals between 2014–2021 who either had a genetic variant making them susceptible to pancreatic cancer or had more than one immediate family member with pancreatic cancer.
Almost half of the participants had a genetic variant predisposing them to cancer.
Apart from the ten diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, eight other participants had pancreatic surgeries for concerning lesions detected during surveillance.
Out of these, three had high-grade dysplasia precancerous conditions, and five had low-grade dysplasia. Also, 73 patients were diagnosed with other cancers, including breast, prostate, and melanoma, during the study period.
The Future of Pancreatic Surveillance
Goggins suggests that pancreatic surveillance is best conducted at expert centers by multidisciplinary teams because some abnormalities that appear in pancreatic imaging are of uncertain significance.
Researchers are now working on blood tests that could complement imaging for early detection of cancers.
If you care about pancreatic cancer, please read studies about new vaccines to prevent pancreatic cancer, and new therapy to kill pancreatic cancer from within.
For more information about cancer, please see recent studies about herbs that may help treat pancreatic cancer, and results showing how to detect pancreatic cancer at treatable stages.
The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Follow us on Twitter for more articles about this topic.
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