NHS launches drive to catch pancreatic cancer before symptoms show
Urgent pancreatic cancer tests will be offered by the NHS to those most at risk.
Family doctors will identify patients who could have developed the deadly disease before symptoms emerge.
Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of all cancers, with just seven per cent living for five years or more because it is typically not detected until it is advanced and harder to treat.
GP teams will comb through patient records to identify anyone over 60 who may have signs of the cancer, such as a recent diagnosis of diabetes and sudden weight loss.
Figures suggest that around half of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer have been diagnosed with type 1 or 2 diabetes recently.
The doctors will contact patients and offer them urgent blood tests and CT scans to either diagnose the cancer or rule it out.
Newly diagnosed diabetes patients often have similar symptoms to a person with early-stage pancreatic cancer because the cancer destroys the same insulin-producing cells that are also affected by diabetes.
Around 10,500 people in the UK are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer every year, and only around one in 20 survive the disease for 10 years or more.
More than half of people die within three months of diagnosis.
More than 300 GP practices in England will be involved in the three-year pilot, which is backed by £2 million in funding and set to be fully operational by this autumn.
Silent symptoms
Prof Peter Johnson, the NHS national clinical director for cancer, said: 'Pancreatic cancer is responsible for so many deaths because patients don't usually notice symptoms until the cancer is at an advanced stage, which is why we need to find new ways to pick it up.
'Through initiatives like this and the upcoming 10-year health plan, the NHS is determined to go a step further – not just treat people at an advanced stage but to go out into communities and seek people out who might be unwell without any symptoms so we can provide people with the most effective treatment,' he said.
'If your GP practice identifies you as at risk of pancreatic cancer, I urge you to come forward for testing as soon as possible.'
Karin Smyth, the health minister, said the 'targeted approach to identify people at risk of one of the most lethal cancers could give more people a fighting chance and spare the heartbreak of countless families'.
Alfie Bailey-Bearfield, the head of health improvement at Pancreatic Cancer UK, said earlier diagnosis 'would make the single biggest difference to improving survival'.
'We're proud to have been involved in shaping this new case finding pilot, which will support GPs to proactively find people with pancreatic cancer among one of the largest groups known to be at increased risk: those aged over 60, with new onset diabetes who have recently lost weight without trying to do so,' he said.
'Many of the people who are referred for a CT scan during the pilot will not have pancreatic cancer, but for those who do, the impact could be lifesaving.'
Previous research has shown that people over 50 with a new case of type 2 diabetes have a higher chance of being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer within three years.
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