PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Pancreatic cancer is usually deadly because it is often found too late. Artificial intelligence might change that.

It’s expected to become the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. by 2030 and many times pancreatic cancer is a silent killer.

“Patients typically present at a stage where the cancer has already won the battle, so to speak,” Dr. Ajit Goenka, Study’s Principal Investigator & Corresponding Author at the Mayo Clinic, said.

Nearly 70% of patients with pancreatic cancer face death within the first year of diagnosis. That’s why early detection is critical.

But doctors say small pancreatic cancers aren’t easily detected on CT scans until it’s advanced to an incurable stage.

“That effectively makes imaging as a final frontier in our quest for early cancer detection,” Dr. Goenka said.

For this new study, researchers used imaging datasets from past CT scans of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer to create an artificial intelligence model.

They hope it will help aid in early detection of small tumors that are currently difficult to detect.

“We are very happy with what we’ve achieved so far but we’re also mindful of the fact that we still have a lot of work remaining to be done,” Dr. Goenka said.

The models are being tested and researchers say eventually they’d like to get to a point where they can present their technology for review by the FDA.

“We are prepared to fight the long battle to be able to overcome early detection of pancreas cancer,” Dr. Goenka said.

Artificial intelligence is already being used to find other kinds of cancer doctors expect its impact to continue growing.