In any case, identifying the reasons will be critical to moving all patients into the early diagnosis group. "I think that will ultimately be the best thing if, when they come, we can offer them treatments and cure and options, versus just saying, unfortunately, it’s too late," she commented.
The investigators have obtained the SEER data for all similar older adults without a pancreatic cancer diagnosis, and using a matched analysis, plan to develop and test a prediction nomogram using the information from their study. "Stay tuned for that," she advised.
"Screening for pancreatic cancer will be a great future tool," Dr. Ragulin-Coyne concluded, while also cautioning that there is still much work to be done before some type of population-based screening becomes a reality.
Dr. Ragulin-Coyne reported having no conflicts of interest related to the study.