Pancreatic cancer: Are "liquid biopsies" ready for prime-time?

Figure 2 Potential roles of liquid biopsy. As a screening tool: As a non-invasive biopsy in patients not fit for invasive procedures or as an adjunct test where an FNA biopsy has proven inconclusive; As a biomarker used after surgical treatment to identify patients at high risk of local recurrence or distant metastasis; As a marker of prognosis in all patients prior to therapy; As a marker of chemotherapy efficacy; In the development of cell lines from circulating tumour cells; and In the detection of therapeutic targets or resistance mechanisms.