Breakthrough in diagnosis of deadly cancer?

Press, 11 April 1978, Page 9

Breakthrough in diagnosis of deadly cancer?

By AL ROSSITER, Jun., ! United Press International Science Editor. Houston. American scientists following up research done in Queensland, have devised a blood test that may help doctors detect early stages of cancer of the pancreas, one of the most deadly I forms of malignant tumours. Of the 21.900 cases of (pancreatic cancer discovered last year in the United States, 20,000 died within a year of diagnosis. Dr Martin Goldrosen, of •the Roswell Park Memorial i Institute in Buffalo, New 'York, has said in a report that cancer of the pancreas i is usually well-developed and has 'spread to other organs by the time it is detected. It is a fast-gr Owing tumour and the initial symptoms often masquerade as vague complaints such as indigestion, abdominal or back pain, weakness, weight loss, and anaemia. Dr Goldrosen says that as the disease progresses, most patients become jaundiced. ; As a result, doctors often (treat the patients for hepa(titis, gallstones, pancreatitis, (or a peptic ulcer. Symptoms may be present for four to • six months before an accurate diagnosis is made. j Techniques now available ican only detect cancer of ! the pancreas after it has (spread to other parts of the body, when it is too late to save the patient. “It is no surprise that few patients are candidates for curative surgery, and the

mean survival from the time of diagnosis to death is approximately five months,” Dr Goldrosen told an American Cancer Society symposium.

He and his colleagues, building on the work in 1972 of Dr William Hallowday, of Queensland, developed a test that takes advantage of the fact that white blood cells of cancer patients will react in a certain way when exposed in the laboratory to an extract of a pancreas tumour. This is a function of the body’s immunity reaction to the cancer. White cells of a 'healthy person will not recognise the tumour extract. I After animal testing was ■successful, the Roswell Park | researchers tried the tech- ! nique on 24 people with pre(viously diagnosed pancreatic cancer, and on 68 people (who did not have the dis- ■ ease.

( Dr Goldrosen said that the test spotted 22 of 24 cancer patients. Only two of 68 (people who did not have the (pancreatic cancer returned a (positive. One had another (type of cancer and one had (cirrhosis of the liver. | Still unproven, however, is (whether the test will be able (to detect cancer of the pan- ( creas in its earliest, mosti treatable stage. “This test has good potential to detect pancreatic cancer in its early stages,” Dr Goldrosen said.

He said it may also be useful in treating other kinds of cancer in more treatable stages. Cancer of the pancreas was selected for the initial tests because the survival record is so bad.