VAPOR STUDY
Research type
Research Study
Full title
VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUND ASSESSMENT IN PANCREATIC DUCTAL ADENOCARCINOMA
IRAS ID
316142
Contact name
George Hanna
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Pancreatic cancer has extremely poor survival in the UK, with just 7.3% of patients surviving 5 years after diagnosis. This is largely due to a failure of early-detection, with 45% of pancreatic cancer cases presenting as an emergency. Diagnosing pancreatic cancer at an earlier stage remains a challenge as the signs and symptoms of early pancreatic cancer are often non-specific, and late diagnosis is therefore a common feature of pancreatic cancer, with 47% of patients presenting with Stage 4 disease.
This study aims to improve earlier detection of pancreatic cancer by developing a non-invasive breath test for patients living with non-specific symptoms of pancreatic cancer. The breath test detects small molecules called volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that we believe are released by pancreatic cancers. For patients with non-specific symptoms, this test would help GPs to identify those patients that may indeed have an underlying pancreatic cancer, who would benefit from referral for specialised pancreatic cancer tests.
The study will be a prospective multi-centre observational study, to find out which VOCs can be used as markers of pancreatic cancer, by finding out what volatile compounds are made in different groups of patients. We will test patients with known pancreatic cancer, benign pancreatic conditions (new-onset diabetes and chronic pancreatitis) and healthy patients.
In addition to this, we aim to establish a comprehensive bioresource of matched samples from patients with pancreatic cancer as well as controls. Biosamples including breath, saliva, blood, urine, pancreatic tissue and duodenal contents will be collected and analysed to further investigate the pathways of VOC production in pancreatic cancer. The results of these studies will be used to refine our breath test.
We hope that this will allow us to diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier, leading to more treatment choices for patients and improved survival from pancreatic cancer.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 02
REC reference
22/SS/0061
Date of REC Opinion
11 Oct 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion