Doctors test unique method in Pardubice: pancreatic cancer may be detected from a few milliliters of blood
Approximately 2,400 people develop pancreatic cancer in Czechia annually and almost 2,200 succumb to it over the same period. It can now be detected by regular pancreatic MRI and endoscopic ultrasonography. However researchers at the University of Pardubice say they have found a simpler and equally effective method. If confirmed, Czechia could become the first country in the world to require only a few milliliters of blood for testing.
Nurse Světluše Fyšarová of the Lipidica Study at the 2nd Internal Gastroenterology and Geriatrics Clinic at Olomouc University Hospital described the researchers‘ unique method of discovering pancreatic cancer to Czech Radio:
"Two blood samples are taken, one is clotting, one is non-clotting. The non-clotting blood can be put immediately into the centrifuge."
“I open the freezer. I have a special box for this. It’s put together, one patient after the other.”
Clotted blood must be left to stand for 20 minutes while non-clotted blood can be centrifuged right away. After that, a second tube of clotted blood also goes through centrifugation. From the first one, the nurse takes the centrifuged plasma and puts it into the tip, and from the second one, she takes the serum.
Doctors store blood samples at minus 80 degrees Celsius from up to 60 people who are at high risk of pancreatic cancer and regularly come to the clinic for check-ups. Scientists from the University of Pardubice have already used their blood samples to check whether the test is as sensitive in high-risk patients as in the healthy population. Now more samples will be obtained in the same way.
The team of Prof. Michal Holčapek from the Faculty of Chemical Technology at the University of Pardubice began developing the blood test for diagnosing pancreatic cancer several years ago. The prestigious scientific journal Nature Communications also reported on the results of this method.
Today, it is protected by two patents and the validation of the method has begun in the Lipidica spin-off company in Pardubice.
Prof. Holčapek described the significance the discovery could have in the field:
"This is something I am very excited about and at the moment I take it as a commitment, a duty, that we have to see it through to the end. I believe that within two years or so it could really be used in real practice."
If the test's effectiveness is confirmed, experts say it will take some time before the test becomes part of standard care.
