Pancreatic Cancer Is Devastating

Posted by Anthony Lee Mar 10, 2008

Patrick Swayze now has it. Luciano Pavarotti and Michael Landon died from it. About 30,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with it, and sadly, most of them are expected to die from it.

Pancreatic cancer is a disease that is hard to detect early and treat fully. It's not entirely a silent condition. There are symptoms early on, but they are nonspecific and are often attributed erroneously to other causes. In situations of unexplained symptoms, a doctor must be vigilant to even consider pancreatic cancer as a diagnosis. Even with that, pancreatic cancer may have already spread by the time it's diagnosed, making treatment difficult. The five-year survival rate for this disease is about 5%.

The reality is that there are still some conditions where no definitive screening and/or treatment exists. In medicine, there is always uncharted territory. Not everything has an answer, but every answer has a chance to be found. It is still important to hope for the best, but don't forget to understand the facts grounded in reality.

Still, smoking and chronic pancreatitis, particularly from long-term alcohol consumption, are risk factors for pancreatic cancer. There is at least some reassurance in prevention.

Source: eMedicine - Pancreatic Cancer