Pancreatic cancer may be detected with simple intestinal probe

By simply shining a tiny light within the small intestine, close to that organ's junction with the pancreas, physicians at Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida have been able to detect pancreatic cancer 100 per cent of the time in a small study. The light, attached to a probe, measures changes in cells and blood vessels in the small intestine produced by a growing cancer in the adjoining pancreas.

This minimally invasive technique, called Polarisation Gating Spectroscopy, will now be tested in a much larger international clinical trial led by the Mayo Clinic researchers. The preliminary study suggests it may be possible, one day, to use a less invasive endoscope to screen patients for early development of pancreatic cancer.

The findings are being highlighted in a special address by Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist Michael Wallace, MD, at the international Digestive Disease Week 2012, the world's largest gathering of physicians and researchers who treat, and study, disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.

The pancreas is notoriously hard to reach and see due to its very deep location in the abdomen, surrounded by intestines. The study investigators theorised that there may be changes in the nearby "normal appearing" tissue of the small intestine which is much more accessible.

"No one ever thought you could detect pancreatic cancer in an area that is somewhat remote from the pancreas, but this study suggests it may be possible," says Dr Wallace, chairman of the division of gastroenterology at Mayo Clinic in Florida. "Although results are still preliminary, the concept of detection field effects of nearby cancers holds great promise for possible early detection of pancreatic cancer."

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly of human tumors. It is only curable in 5 per cent of cases, and even when it is surgically removed, 70 per cent of patients have a recurrence that is fatal, Dr Wallace says. There are no ways currently to detect the cancer early enough to cure a substantial number of patients, he says.
 
Pancreatic cancer is now usually detected through an imaging scan, followed by an invasive biopsy. Tumors found in this way are usually at an advanced stage.

In this study, the Mayo Clinic physicians tested a light probe developed by their long-time collaborators at Northwestern University.