Blood test for early signs of pancreatic cancer trialled by UK doctors

Credit: Getty/Renphoto

By Jane Kirby, PA Media

A new blood test to pick up early signs of pancreatic cancer is being trialled by UK doctors.

The genomic test uses blood samples to look for markers of the deadly disease, which often has vague symptoms.

The test is being trialled in patients with a recent diagnosis of type 2 diabetes – a known risk factor for pancreatic cancer.

People over 50 with a new case of type 2 diabetes have a higher chance of also being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer within three years.

Early data suggests the Avantect test is 68% accurate in picking up people with early stages of the disease, which kills almost 10,000 people every year in the UK.

It is also 97% accurate in ruling out people without pancreatic cancer.

The new clinical trial has been launched at the Cancer Research UK Southampton Clinical Trials Unit.

Zaed Hamady, consultant surgeon and pancreatic researcher at the University of Southampton, is leading the trial.