Pancreatic cancer | An avenue under study for early detection

Pancreatic cancer could become much less deadly within 5 to 10 years thanks to a large study involving researchers at McGill University.

The objective: to increase the proportion of these cancers which are detected at stage 1, while the five-year survival rate is 80%. Currently, only 12% of diagnosed patients live more than five years.

“We want to identify patients who will benefit from a screening program,” explains George Zogopoulos, surgical oncologist at the MUHC research institute and co-author of a study published in April in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (JNCCN). “These will be people who have a family history of pancreatic cancer and a genetic mutation favorable to the development of this cancer. In Quebec, there is a higher proportion of the population that has these mutations. »

The actress Angelina Jolie is notably a carrier of one of these mutations because of a French-Canadian grandmother, according to the D^r Zogopoulos. These mutations are present in 5% to 10% of cases.

A person has a 1.5% to 2% chance of developing pancreatic cancer during their lifetime. But half of the cases are detected when there are already metastases and another 30% at an inoperable stage. “If we managed to detect cases earlier, we could operate and increase the survival rate. »

More common than before

Pancreatic cancer is twice as common as 30 years ago, due to the aging of the population and unexplained factors, according to Dr.^r Zogopoulos. The Canadian Cancer Society estimates that there are 7,200 new diagnoses and 5,900 deaths each year. Pancreatic cancer affects men slightly more than women.

The Consortium for the Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer (PRECEDE), which brings together around thirty hospitals, has recruited half of the 10,000 patients who will be followed to refine the screening criteria. The goal is to increase the five-year survival rate from 12% to 50%.

The study published in the JNCCN detected the presence of cysts associated with pancreatic cancer, but only in patients who did not have genetic mutations associated with the disease. “It was unexpected and we have to see if it can be a screening criterion,” said the D^r Zogopoulos.

Early detection programs for some cancers are debated because of the difficulty in distinguishing stage 1 cases that will progress so slowly that treatment is unnecessary. This will not be the case for pancreatic cancer, according to D^r Zogopoulos. “It’s a very aggressive cancer. We don’t want to operate on it when we detect it. We want to operate on him yesterday. »