At a glance
- What the study gets you
- Health checks and monitoring — no treatment given
- Type of study
- Observational (no treatment given)
- Time in hospital
- In-person visits at study sites — visit count not specified by the sponsor
- Drug or intervention
- Breath test (diagnostic test)
- How long the study runs
- Study runs about 34 months (dates as stated)
- About the drug or intervention
- Breath test — diagnostic test: All participants will fast for a minimum of six hours prior to breath collection.
- Patient visit burden
- Not specified by the sponsor
- Type of study
- Observing health over time
- Ages
- 18 Years and over
- Who
- All
- Number of participants
- 6,079
- Started
- 2025-10-21
- Last checked
- 2026-07
Plain English Summary
What is this study?
- • Testing a new treatment for pancreatic cancer
- • Clinical study - 6,079 participants
- • The investigators are developing a non-invasive breath test to help us detect pancreatic cancer earlier
Who can take part?
- • Ages 18 Years and over
- • Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
Where?
- • London - Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
This is a simplified summary. Always discuss with your doctor before making any decisions.
About This Trial
The investigators are developing a non-invasive breath test to help us detect pancreatic cancer earlier. The test detects small molecules called volatile organic compounds that are made by pancreatic cancers. Pancreatic cancer is a rare disease but patients are often diagnosed at a late stage because their symptoms are the same as those of many common illnesses. This makes it hard for doctors to know which patients need to be tested for pancreatic cancer. If the investigators find pancreatic cancer at a late stage, it reduces the number of treatment choices for patients. Our test could be offered to patients who are experiencing vague symptoms, which might be caused either by pancreatic cancer or a common illness. This test could help doctors to identify which of those patients may have pancreatic cancer, and ensure they get referred for specialised pancreatic cancer tests. The investigators hope that this will allow us to diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier, increasing treatment choices for patients and improving survival from pancreatic cancer. The investigators have previously conducted a study (VAPOR1) which collected breath samples from people with and without pancreatic cancer. When the investigators analysed these samples, they found that there is a difference in the volatile organic compounds breathed out by people who have pancreatic cancer compared to those that do not. The investigators used these 'markers' to develop a breath test to diagnose pancreatic cancer. In VAPOR2, the investigators will study our breath test in a much larger group of patients who have been referred for further investigations for potential underlying pancreatic cancer to see how accurately it can pick up the small percentage of people who have pancreatic cancer.
More detail
A multicentre double-blind external validation study to validate the breath test to detect PDAC in 6079 adult participants referred from primary care with potential underlying pancreatic cancer, whereby the VOC analyst in the laboratory and the statistician and bioinformatician classifying the VOC profile into cancer/no-cancer will be blinded to the definitive diagnosis of cancer/no-cancer at the time of analysis. Additionally, the radiologist and/or pathologist reporting the reference test (CT, MRI, biopsy) will not have access to the breath test results at any point. Breath test analysis and definitive diagnoses will be held in separate datasets, which will be cleaned and locked before being combined for analysis. The lead statistician will be unblinded at the interim analysis and at the end of the study after the final database lock once all the study data has been collected and cleaned, to calculate the accuracy of the prediction models.
How this trial compares with your answers
Answer 2 more questions to improve match
What we know so far
Still need:
- • Tell us your age for better matching
- • Tell us your sex for better matching
Preliminary match based on your answers. Full eligibility requires on-site assessment including medical history, physical exam, and lab tests. This does not guarantee enrolment.
Eligibility at a Glance
Key info
- Age: 18 Years and over
- Who can join: All genders
What the study is looking for
- ✓Adult participants ≥ 18 years old
Who cannot take part
- ✗Previous pancreatic resection
- ✗History of another cancer (other than non-melanoma skin cancers) within three years
- ✗Pregnant participants (pregnancy status to be confirmed verbally with the participant)
- ✗Participants with co-morbidities preventing breath collection
- ✗Unable or unwilling to provide agreement to take part
See the full criteria
Where Is This Study? (1 UK site)
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
London, United Kingdom
How to Get in Touch
Emma Austin
Sponsor contactCONTACT
Caoimhe Walsh, MBBS, MRCS
Sponsor contactCONTACT