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11/02/2024 09:30:12 am

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New Study Suggests That Pancreatic Cancer Can Be Detected By Blood Test

Blood

(Photo : Getty Images) Blood tests wait to be inspected at the lab of Zanmi Lasante Hospital March 24, 2005 in Cange, Haiti.

A recently published medical finding suggests that there is a new blood test that could detect deadly pancreatic cancer as early as possible to improve patient's struggles for survival.

Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine associate professor and lead researcher Dr. Masaru Yoshida said, "This new diagnostic test may be a safe and easy screening method that could improve the prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer through earlier detection."

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Masaru added that a single drop of blood reveals a lots of patient information that could potentially save their lives if handled correctly.

According to the NBC News, a new study suggest that doctors may one day be able to detect pancreatic cancer in its early stages with just a drop of a blood.

Scientists were even able to determine subjects with benign disease from those with early-stage cancer by searching blood samples of pancreatic cancer patients and controls for a distinctive molecule malignancy it given off, according to the LA Times.

By just looking for a protein in the blood that is made in abundance by tumour cells, an international team of researchers was able to identify 100 percent of patients with late stage pancreatic cancer as well as those with earlier disease.

Exosomes are tiny virus-sized particles that are present in almost all biological fluids including urine and blood, according Health Day. The researchers wanted to find out if they could differentiate exosomes excreted by cancerous cells and those excreted by noncancerous cells.

Of all common cancers in the United States, pancreatic cancer is the deadliest. Usually when it has reached a very advanced stage and few treatment options are effective, an estimated 44,000 are diagnosed with the malignancy each year in the country. Patients who caught this type of malignancy are expected to survive more than five years, however on 5 percent of them are diagnosed.

An emerging science is focusing on small molecules, the new approach relies on metabolomics technology. Metabolites, a blood test measured by products of metabolism can be found in the blood.

The researchers are able to identify those with cancer by looking for differences between levels of metabolites in patients with and without pancreatic cancer.

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