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Pancreatic cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S.
Dr. Michael Wallace, a gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic, warns that early signs of this deadly disease are easy to miss.
"Our best way of finding a disease at a curable stage is to find it early," says Dr. Wallace.
Patients with a family history of pancreatic disease are at the greatest risk and should be screened annually with an MRI or an endoscopic ultrasound.
"If we see something abnormal, we can actually take a biopsy directly of it, and that's a very, very safe procedure," he explains.
Artificial intelligence (AI) also is helping doctors at Mayo Clinic detect the disease earlier.
"We now have very good ways, including some recent advances in artificial intelligence, enhancement of CT and MRI images, that can allow us to tell which of these are likely to turn cancerous. And those individuals, we can actually remove the cyst, even before it becomes malignant, and essentially prevent the disease," says Dr. Wallace.
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