FRIDAY, Nov. 14, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Pancreatic cancer is known as a silent killer, showing few symptoms until it reaches its deadly final stage.
But researchers believe they have discovered a warning sign that could help detect pancreatic cancer at an earlier, more treatable stage.
Enlargement of the pancreatic duct, which connects the organ to the bile duct, is associated with an increased chance of pancreatic cancer in people at high risk for the disease, researchers report in the journal Gastro Hep Advances.
“This discovery has the potential to improve survival rates if cancer is detected early,” lead researcher Dr. Marcia Eileen Kant said in a news release. She is a professor of medicine and oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), the pancreas is an organ located behind the stomach. It plays an important role in digestion and regulating blood sugar levels, and produces digestive enzymes and hormones such as insulin.
According to the ACS, pancreatic cancer accounts for about 3 percent of all cancers in the United States, but 8 percent of all cancer deaths.
This is because it is often diagnosed at a later stage, after it has started to spread to other organs, and the five-year survival rate ranges from 3% to 16%, the ACS says. Because the pancreas is located deep in the body, doctors are unable to detect early tumors during regular physical exams.
In the new study, researchers performed MRI and ultrasound tests on 641 people who were at high risk for pancreatic cancer, either because they had several close relatives with the disease or because their genetics increased their risk.
The research team found enlarged pancreatic ducts in 97 of the patients.
According to the study, people with this type of pancreatic cancer spread are 16 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer after five years and 26 percent more likely after 10 years.
Overall, participants were 2.6 times more likely to develop pancreatic cancer if they had duct dilatation, especially if they had three or more pancreatic cysts, the researchers found.
“By identifying this risk factor early, we were able to intervene more quickly,” Kant said.
“Interventions could be surgery or more frequent imaging tests,” he continued. “It’s surprising that even with the best imaging techniques, pancreatic cancer masses may not be visible, even when they cause structural changes in pancreatic cancer. We have an opportunity to do even better.”
This red flag can be detected when doctors perform tests for other health problems, such as kidney stones or abdominal pain, Kant said.
“Providers need to be aware that this needs to be addressed immediately,” he said.
The next step in the research is to train AI to analyze pancreatic scans to more specifically and accurately predict cancer risk, Kant said.
Detailed information
The American Cancer Society has more information about pancreatic cancer.
Source: Gastro Hep Advances, September 12, 2025. Johns Hopkins Medicine, News Release, November 11, 2025
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