Yup. Let’s say the test shows “very likely” for pancreatic cancer.
Now you do imaging. Ok, nothing there? Now what? Biopsy? That’s general anesthesia now and costly (for the patient or govt). Biopsy is negative. Now what? Start chemo? Watch and wait? For how long? Do a biopsy every 6 months?
None of these tests are 100% accurate. If broadly used, a false positive of 0.1% will result in tens of thousands getting unnecessary testing.
I think for pancreatic cancer early detection just means it gives you more time to enjoy a slightly longer bucket list. For bowel cancers however, this could potentially buy many extra years since it's currently difficult to detect early.
One reason why pancreatic is so fatal is it doesn’t tend to get diagnosed until quite late, so this test could help here. But really early cancer (no identified mass) is more of a watch and wait thing.
Now you do imaging. Ok, nothing there? Now what? Biopsy? That’s general anesthesia now and costly (for the patient or govt). Biopsy is negative. Now what? Start chemo? Watch and wait? For how long? Do a biopsy every 6 months?
None of these tests are 100% accurate. If broadly used, a false positive of 0.1% will result in tens of thousands getting unnecessary testing.