A Novel Index Consisting of Age, CA19-9, and Methylated Somatostatin Is Useful for Diagnosing Early Pancreatic Cancer

There are no reliable screening tests for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). We performed this study to address this issue. Using 206 serum samples from 95 healthy subjects and 111 patients with PDAC, we developed the novel ACAm-S index, which consists of age, CA19-9, and methylated somatostatin. The ACAm-S index showed a sensitivity of 91.0% (101/111) for all stages of PDAC and a specificity of 94.7% (90/95). Notably, its sensitivity was high at 85.4% (35/41), even for Stage I PDAC. The ACAm-S index may have potential as a blood-based screening tool for early-stage PDAC in the general population.