A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool developed by Mayo Clinic researchers helped doctors detect pancreatic cancer as much as three years earlier than it is typically diagnosed.

The technology, known as the Radiomics-based Early Detection Model (REDMOD), identified 73% of early pancreatic cancers on routine abdominal CT scans, an average of about 16 months before typical diagnosis.

Editor’s Note: Discover Your Risk for Heart Disease in Minutes With This Simple Test – Click Here

Early detection is critical for pancreatic cancer. More than 85% of patients are diagnosed only after the disease has spread, and the five-year survival rate remains below 15%, according to the National Cancer Institute.

“The bottom line is AI is changing everything in medicine,” cardiologist Dr. Chauncey Crandall told Newsmax’s “Bianca Across the Nation.”

Special: Dr. Crandall Saved His Own Heart With This

“So, with pancreatic cancer…this is usually a terminal cancer. When it's diagnosed, we can't really treat it. And the survival rate is very low,” said Crandall, director of preventive medicine at the Palm Beach Cardiovascular Clinic in Florida.

In the Mayo Clinic study, the AI system identified 73% of cancers in scans that had originally been read as normal, with an average lead time of about 16 months before diagnosis.

Editor’s Note: Is Honey the New Golden Goddess of Good Health?

According to Crandall, the ability to look back at earlier scans and detect subtle warning signs is a major step forward.

“But now with AI, we have the ability to go back in time and look at previous patients that had pancreatic cancer and look at their early studies,” he said. “And we have found that we could diagnose those cancers earlier with AI.”

Special: What Every Son and Daughter Needs to Hear About Aging Parents

“So, this is a game changer,” explained Crandall, editor of the popular newsletter Dr. Crandall's Heart Health Report.

The breakthrough comes as researchers are also making progress in treatment.

Former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last December, shared on “60 Minutes” that he was originally given just three to four months to live. However, Sasse explained that he is now taking a new drug in a clinical trial. The drug, daraxonrasib, has relieved his pain and reduced his tumor size by 76%.

Taken together, earlier detection and new treatments could dramatically change outcomes for patients.

“Everything is changing in medicine and everything is changing for the treatment of pancreatic cancer,” Crandall said. “This is no different right now than when penicillin was discovered.”

“We are going to save people's lives. We're going to treat them earlier. People are going to live longer. They're going to live a better life, a healthier life,” he added. “So this is a game changer, and I'm very excited about this.”

As more hospitals adopt AI tools, experts believe the technology could become a routine part of care — helping doctors detect disease earlier and improve patient outcomes.