Ideas in this flowchart

• Liquid biopsy and ctDNA analysis are expanding cancer diagnosis and metastatic risk stratification.
• Liquid biopsies can identify patients at the highest risk for cancer spread.
• In pancreatic cancer, mutant KRAS ctDNA detection was strongly associated with metastatic tumors that were difficult to detect by conventional methods.
• Mutant KRAS ctDNA detection was also associated with poor survival outcomes.
• These findings provide new insights into disease biology.
• The findings aid decisions about surgery.
• The findings aid decisions about treatment intensity.
• Evidence reported by Leiting JL et al. (2025) in Annals of Surgical Oncology, 32:4453.