HACKENSACK, N.J. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Pancreatic cancer grows silently with very few symptoms. Doctors often don’t catch it until it’s late stage, making treatment very difficult. But now, a new test designed to detect markers in the blood is accurately predicting which patients might be developing the disease, meaning they can have potentially life-saving treatment.
Nancy Perez knows the pancreas all too well. Pancreatic cancer killed her grandmother, her uncle, and her mother. Perez’s aunt was diagnosed and died two years after her mother.
Perez stresses, “I’m approaching my sixties and that’s when my mom was diagnosed and my aunt, so, you know, I get nervous.”
Because of her strong family history, Perez has had yearly screening tests, which can be time consuming and costly. Now, her doctor has recommended a new blood test – the IMMray PanCan-d. The screening tool checks the serum in the blood for more than eight biomarkers, including CA19-9, which is often used in pancreatic cancer detection.
“When they combine those eight biomarkers plus CA19-9, they arrived at a test that can detect pancreas cancer at stage one. So, very early stage pancreas cancer, 93% of the time,” gastroenterologist at the Hackensack University Medical Center, Rosario Ligresti, MD, explains.
If the blood test results are high, Dr. Ligresti says patients will be referred for additional screening. If doctors catch early-stage cancer, patients can be candidates for surgery, which is the only potential cure.
“Which in my opinion, having done this a very long time is in fact a game changer,” Dr. Ligresti adds.
Perez says, “They sent the blood work out, and I think within a week, Dr. Ligresti called me and said I was negative.”
Doctors say diagnosing pancreatic cancer at stage one increases the five-year survival rate to about 49 percent. The test is part of a clinical trial and is not yet FDA-approved. Right now, the test is not covered by insurance and the out-of-pocket cost is about $1,000, but Dr. Ligresti says the test should be done every year and if the FDA approves this blood test, insurance companies should begin to cover it.
Contributors to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Producer; Kirk Manson, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.
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Sources:
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/pancreatic-cancer/about/key-statistics.html
MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
RESEARCH SUMMARY
TOPIC: PANCREATIC CANCER BLOOD TEST: CATCHING IT EARLY!
REPORT: MB #5204
BACKGROUND: Pancreatic cancer is a type of cancer that originates in the pancreas, a gland located behind the stomach that produces digestive enzymes and hormones, such as insulin and glucagon. It is a relatively rare but highly aggressive form of cancer, and it is often diagnosed in advanced stages, making it difficult to treat. According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 60,430 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the United States in 2021. The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is less than 10 percent. The median age at diagnosis for pancreatic cancer is 70 years old, and it is slightly more common in men than in women.
(Source:
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/pancreatic-cancer/about/what-is-pancreatic-cancer.html)
DIAGNOSING: Diagnosing pancreatic cancer can be challenging, as the disease often does not cause symptoms in its early stages, and the symptoms that do occur may be vague and non-specific. However, early diagnosis is important, as pancreatic cancer is highly aggressive and early treatment can improve outcomes for patients. Common methods to diagnose pancreatic cancer include imaging tests, biopsies, blood tests, and ultrasounds. Diagnosing pancreatic cancer is often a complex process that requires the expertise of a multidisciplinary team of healthcare providers, including radiologists, gastroenterologists, and oncologists.
(Source:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pancreatic-cancer/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20355427)
NEW TECHNOLOGY: The IMMray PanCan-d is a new blood test developed that is designed to detect early-stage pancreatic cancer. The test uses a panel of biomarkers, or specific molecules in the blood, to identify the presence of pancreatic cancer. The IMMray PanCan-d blood test is based on Immunovia’s proprietary IMMray platform, which uses antibody-based technology to analyze the blood for the presence of specific biomarkers. The test is non-invasive and can be performed using a simple blood sample. The IMMray PanCan-d test has the potential to significantly improve the early detection of pancreatic cancer, which is currently one of the most challenging cancers to diagnose at an early stage.
(Sources:
https://immunoviainc.com/the-immray-pancan-d-test/
https://pancan.org/news/new-early-detection-blood-tests-what-to-know/)
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT, PLEASE CONTACT:
Mary McGeever
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