Pancreatic cancer is one of the most well-known malignant tumors. Once it is found, it has basically reached an advanced stage. Therefore, the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is very important. According to the Physicists' Network reported on the 8th, scientists from the Cancer Research Center in the City of Hope in the United States said that they had developed a blood test method that could diagnose early pancreatic cancer with an accuracy rate of more than 97%. They will announce the test results at the American Association for Research on Cancer conference in San Diego in the near future. The researchers explained that this blood test method aims to find 8 small RNA fragments and 8 large DNA markers shed by pancreatic cancer, which together constitute the genetic characteristics of pancreatic cancer. Research director Ajay Goeer said that the five-year survival rate of patients with early pancreatic cancer was 44%, but if the cancer was diagnosed after spreading in other parts of the body, the proportion would drop to 3%. The research experiment involved 523 cancer patients and 461 healthy individuals from Japan, the United States, South Korea, and China. Using blood test alone, the early diagnosis rate of pancreatic cancer in the United States, South Korea and China was 93%, 91% and 88%, respectively; When the researchers combined this blood test method with the detection of cancer marker CA19-9, the diagnostic accuracy of American participants in stage I and II pancreatic cancer increased to 97%. Stage I pancreatic cancer is limited to organs; Stage II pancreatic cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes, but not to other places. The research team pointed out that for early pancreatic cancer, their method provides a better liquid biopsy scheme than only using CA19-9. However, further research is needed before applying this test to the general population. (Lai Xin She)