To ensure long-term survival of pancreatic cancer, early detection is the key, Amrita Sethi, MD, stated in her presentation at the American College of Gastroenterology Scientific Meeting on October 24 in Vancouver, Canada.

Dr Sethi is an associate professor of medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York. She is the director of Interventional Endoscopy and the Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship Program Director. This year, she was one of ACG’s J Edward Berk distinguished lecture speakers.

“Undergoing surgery can increase a patient’s survival by almost ten-fold,” Dr Sethi said. “But most people (80%) are diagnosed at later stages, after the disease has spread to other organs, making it more challenging to treat.”

So who should be screened for pancreatic cancer? “Identify high risk individuals,” Dr Sethi advised. Patients with modifiable risk factors, family history of pancreatic cancer, inherited genetic mutations, and patients with new onset diabetes all fall under the category of high-risk individuals.

Speaking of new onset diabetes, Dr Sethi stressed on the importance of this key determinant as an independent risk factor. “A sudden change in blood sugar levels in diabetics who previously had well-controlled diabetes may also be a sign of pancreatic cancer,” she said.

Diving into the future of medicine, digital devices and monitoring systems could provide high quality care without taking on the burden of disease. Through personalized drug development, wearable biomarker monitoring, and precision surgical platforms, artificial intelligence could help in early lesion detection and accurate diagnosis. 

Reference:
Sethi A. Changing the course of pancreatic cancer: Identifying innovation in screening, diagnosis, and treatment (Berk lecture). Presented at: 2023 ACG Scientific Meeting. Vancouver, Canada. October 24, 2023