Microsoft scientists have demonstrated that by analysing large samples of search engine queries they may in some cases be able to identify internet users who are suffering from pancreatic cancer, even before they have received a diagnosis of the disease.

The scientists said they hoped their work could lead to early detection of cancer. Their study was published on the Journal of Oncology Practice by Dr Eric Horvitz and Dr Ryen White, the Microsoft researchers, and John Paparrizos, a Columbia University graduate student.

The researchers focused on searches conducted on Bing, Microsoft’s search engine that indicated someone had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. From there, they worked backward, looking for earlier queries that could have shown that the Bing user was experiencing symptoms before the diagnosis. Those early searches, they believe, can be warning flags.

The researchers reported that they could identify from 5 to 15% of pancreatic cases with false positive rates of as low as one in 100,000. The researchers noted that false positives could lead to raised medical costs or create significant anxiety for people who later found out they were not sick.