"Pancreatic cancer is not a disease that reveals itself easily, at least not initially. The pancreas is tucked deep in the abdomen, behind the stomach, so tumours aren't easy to see or feel. A person might experience gastrointestinal distress, nausea, back pain, weight loss or fatigue - all symptoms that can be caused by a variety of conditions, most of which are much more common than pancreatic cancer."
"Over 23 years, 26 of around 1,700 people in the cohort that underwent surveillance developed pancreatic cancer. Compared with about 1,500 people in a cancer database, those in the surveillance group were more likely to be diagnosed at an early stage and have smaller tumours - 39% had stage one cancer, compared with just 10% in the control group. At the earliest stages, pancreatic cancer can be surgically removed, improving outcomes."
"At the earliest stages, pancreatic cancer can be surgically removed, improving outcomes. The five-year-survival rate was also much higher for the group that underwent yearly surveillance (50% compared with 9% for the control group). Screening for pancreatic cancer, however, is tricky. Beyond the vague nature of early symptoms, the disease itself is much rarer than many other cancers - the lifetime risk is between 1% and 2%, so screening everyone isn't feasible."
Pancreatic cancer often produces vague gastrointestinal symptoms and is located deep in the abdomen, making tumours hard to detect early. Many symptoms overlap with far more common conditions, delaying diagnosis. At presentation, four out of five diagnosed individuals have disease that has spread beyond the pancreas, and stage four five-year survival is about 3%. Targeted yearly surveillance of high-risk individuals using CT, endoscopic ultrasound or MRI detected smaller, earlier-stage tumours and increased five-year survival to 50% compared with 9% in controls. Universal screening is impractical because lifetime risk is only 1–2%.
Read at Nature
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