Scientists at Imperial College London have launched a groundbreaking clinical trial of the world's first breath test for pancreatic cancer, marking what experts call the most significant advancement in pancreatic cancer detection in five decades. The large-scale study will test 6,000 patients with unknown diagnoses across 40 sites in England, Wales and Scotland.
The trial represents a major escalation from a smaller preliminary study of 700 patients conducted over two years, which showed "promising" results. Pancreatic Cancer UK is providing £1.1 million in funding for the research, reflecting the urgent need for better diagnostic tools for this particularly deadly form of cancer.
Critical Need for Early Detection
Pancreatic cancer presents unique diagnostic challenges due to its vague symptoms, including back pain and indigestion, which often lead to delayed diagnosis. A recent audit of pancreatic cancer in England and Wales revealed alarming statistics: 62% of patients in England and 65% of patients in Wales are diagnosed at stage four, when the disease has already spread to other parts of the body.
The survival rates underscore the severity of late-stage diagnosis. According to the audit data, 22% of pancreatic cancer patients in England and 21% in Wales do not survive for 30 days after diagnosis, highlighting the critical importance of earlier detection when treatment may be more effective.
Revolutionary Detection Technology
The breath test operates by detecting specific combinations of volatile organic compounds present in human breath. These thousands of compounds travel through the bloodstream and are filtered out when blood reaches the lungs, then expelled during breathing. The test can isolate unique combinations of these compounds that can pinpoint whether a person has pancreatic cancer.
Crucially, the technology can detect these changes even when the cancer is at its earliest stage of disease. Results are available to general practitioners within just three days, a significant improvement over current diagnostic pathways that typically involve referrals for scans or hospital investigations.
Clinical Implementation Timeline
If the large-scale trial proves effective, researchers hope the breath test could be rolled out across GP surgeries within five years. This timeline would represent a dramatic acceleration in diagnostic capabilities for pancreatic cancer, potentially transforming patient outcomes through earlier intervention.
Diana Jupp, chief executive of Pancreatic Cancer UK, emphasized the historical significance of this development: "The breath test has the potential to revolutionise the early detection of pancreatic cancer. It is, undoubtedly, the most significant step toward a lifesaving breakthrough in 50 years."
Jupp noted that while additional years of development remain necessary before the technology can be widely deployed, the current trial will help refine the test in real-world conditions. "This is the first pancreatic cancer breath test to ever reach a national clinical trial of this scale. That in itself makes this a moment of real, tangible hope," she said.
Research Leadership and Validation
Professor George Hanna, head of the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London, is leading the project. He highlighted the potential clinical impact of validating the initial findings in a broader patient population.
"If our findings from the initial phase of the breath test study can be validated in a population of patients with an unknown diagnosis, it has huge potential to influence clinical practice and pancreatic cancer referral pathways," Professor Hanna said. "The funding announced today means we can now move quickly to that patient validation study stage, which is a very exciting next step for us."
The research team expressed particular interest in observing how the test performs in patients with suspected cancer, as this real-world validation will be crucial for determining the technology's clinical utility and potential integration into standard diagnostic protocols.
