Screening for pancreatic cancer

There is no national screening programme for pancreatic cancer in the UK. But you may have tests if you are at high risk of developing it. This may be as part of a study.

What is screening?

Screening means testing people for early stages of a disease. This is before they have any symptoms. For screening to be useful the tests:

• need to be reliable at picking up cancers
• overall must do more good than harm to people taking part
• must be something that people are willing to do

Screening tests are not perfect and have some risks. The screening programme should also be good value for money for the NHS.

No national screening available

There is no national screening programme for pancreatic cancer because:

• this type of cancer is relatively uncommon, so many people would have unnecessary tests
• the benefits don't outweigh the costs

But people with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer may be able to have tests to look for signs of pancreatic cancer. Talk to your GP if you think you have a higher than average risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

Screening for people at high risk of pancreatic cancer

You can have screening for pancreatic cancer if you have:

• hereditary pancreatitis and a fault in the PRSS1 gene
• a hereditary condition called Peutz-Jeghers syndrome
• one or more first degree relatives with pancreatic cancer and you have a fault in a particular gene (BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2 or CDKN2A)

You may also be able to have screening if you have:

• 2 or more first degree relatives with pancreatic cancer
• Lynch syndrome and a first degree relative with pancreatic cancer

It is not clear what the best way of monitoring people at high risk of pancreatic cancer is. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended offering one of the following tests:

• an MRI scan or a magnetic resonance cholangio pancreatography (MRCP)
• an endoscopic ultrasound
• a CT scan

Research into pancreatic screening

The EUROPAC study is looking at screening for people at a high risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Researchers want to see if tests help to pick up pancreatic cancer earlier. The tests you might have in the study include:

• CT scan
• MRI scan
• Endoscopic ultrasound
• blood tests to look for particular markers that may be a sign of pancreatic cancer

The researchers may also take samples of pancreatic juice to look for gene changes. These changes may be a sign of pancreatic cancer that is too small to be seen on scans.