Pancreatic cancer is one of the quieter, lesser-known forms of the disease but it’s also one of the most deadly – only six per cent of patients survive until the five-year mark after diagnosis.
A new non-invasive way of detecting the cancer now offers hope for earlier treatment.
“Whether it’s pancreatic, sarcoma or ovarian cancer, they affect a small percentage of the population and they are very deadly,” said Jane Weller, development director for the Cross Cancer Institute at the University of Alberta.
“It is so unique and so rare that you often feel people aren’t aware that the research is taking place.”
A scientific team, led by the university’s department of oncology researcher Michael Sawyer and graduate student Vanessa Davis, recently found a distinction in urine samples taken from pancreatic cancer patients, and those taken from a healthy group of people.
Normal urine samples measure five to six different chemical levels. Sawyer and Davis used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic analysis, a method that enabled them to detect up to 150 different chemicals.
This makes it possible to find unique tumour-related signatures in the urine.
Sawyer hopes the test will allow doctors to shorten the time of diagnosis in the future and allow for earlier treatment.
“The reason that this is important is that pancreatic cancer does not have a whole lot of specific symptoms,” Sawyer said.
“Frequently, people felt unwell for months and their family doctor prescribed many tests and then he comes up with the diagnosis when the cancer is no longer operable.”
Despite significant advancements in the treatments of other cancers, pancreatic cancer remains largely incurable. By the time it is discovered, it has often spread to other areas of the body.
The pancreas is located at the back of the abdomen. Sawyer said early symptoms for the cancer can be easily confused with back or stomach pains. Patients may lose appetite and weight, and some can develop depression.
“The point of this test was to give doctors a tool to help figure out what those vague symptoms are related to,” he said.
“Some of the chemicals and chemical signatures we detected in the urine are from people losing muscle mass and weight. Other parts are directly related to abnormalities from the tumour or from the patient.”
While the samples cannot point directly to pancreatic cancer, Sawyer said they should alarm doctors that something is wrong. They can follow-up by performing a computerized tomography (CAT scan) on their patients.
Alberta Health Services figures suggest that approximately one in 79 men and one in 61 women will develop invasive pancreatic cancer within their lifetime.
It is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in Canada and most people who develop it do so without any predisposing risk factors.
In 2006 there were 329 cases of pancreatic cancer in Alberta, and 312 deaths due to the disease.
The Pancreatic Cancer Society of Canada website states that only six per cent of patients live at least five years after diagnosis.
Though current medications can prolong life, Sawyer said most patients live only for another year after diagnosis.
Those lucky enough to have the cancer detected early can undergo an operation and chemotherapy to improve the chance of the cancer not returning.
Sawyer said he intends to collect another round of samples over the next year and a half, then test his results one more time.
Following that, he said he would contact a laboratory company, which could produce and provide doctors with the test in the future.
He said the test would most likely be standardized four to five years later. Doctors would be able to order it from the laboratory and have results in a week or two.
Weller said the research could not have taken place without important donors, one of whom was affected by pancreatic cancer in her family.
“I think it is one of the best-kept secrets what is happening right here in the province,” she said.
“It is a very deadly cancer and that is why a donation is so important, because pancreatic cancer, it doesn’t have a voice like a lot of other cancers because you have no survivors.”
