Archive for the 'Pancreatic Cancer' Category

In a first-of-its-kind finding, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have discovered that exposure to the hepatitis B virus (HBV) may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer.

The study also suggests that patients with this lethal form of cancer treated with chemotherapy may face danger of reactivation of their HBV.

Pancreatic cancer is diagnosed in 37,000 people in the United States each year, and more than 34,000 people die of the disease annually, according to the American Cancer Society.

It is often diagnosed in the late stages and is especially perplexing because few risk factors are known.

“If this study is validated, it will give us more information about the risk factors of pancreatic cancer and possibly even help prevent it in some cases,” said lead author Manal Hassan, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in M. D. Anderson’s Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology.

HBV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are major global health problems, affecting about 2 percent of the population worldwide.

In the United States 1.25 million people have chronic HBV, while 3.2 million have chronic HCV. These systemic viruses can harm the body in a variety of ways, including traveling through the bloodstream and damaging tissues throughout the body.

Yes, there are some surgical options by which the disease can be cured.

The pancreatic cancer treatment depends on your health, age, personal facts and the location and stage of cancer.

The first option of the treatment is complete removal of cancer cells. Preventing the growth of tumors is the second option.

Surgical options for pancreatic cancer treatment:

Operation is the only way to remove the tumor. Surgery cannot be done in some people. But, it becomes compulsory when the cancer spreads to other parts of your body like blood vessels or lymph nodes.

Some of the procedures are:

Whipple procedure (pancratoduodenectomy) is common procedure for pancreatic cancer treatment. The wide end of your pancreas is removed in this method. For this purpose the gall bladder, the common end of bile duct and the duodenum are also removed.

The remaining parts of pancreas and the other end of bile duct are connected to the small intestine as the stomach is also removed sometimes. This helps the pancreatic and bile enzymes reach the small intestine. It has some risks like bleeding and infection.

Looking for Pancreatic Cancer Cure information then you have picked the right choice.

Find pretty good information on pancreatic cancer cure along with an overview on its life expectancy.

If the tumor is truly localized to the pancreas the highest pancreatic cancer cure rate occurs; however, this stage of the disease accounts for less than 20% of cases.

For those patients with localized disease and small cancers with no lymph node metastases and no extension beyond the capsule of the pancreas, complete surgical resection can yield 18% to 24% actual 5-year survival rates.

Its etiology is poorly understood despite the high mortality rate associated with pancreatic cancer

Frankly speaking patients with any stage of this disease can appropriately be considered candidates for clinical trials because of the poor response to any of the treatment methods like chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery as conventionally used.

Palliation of symptoms, however, may be achieved with conventional treatment. Depending on the site of the tumor within the pancreas and the degree of involvement the symptoms are caused.

Know This! There is a pancreatic cancer action network working together for a pancreatic cancer cure researching on various treatment options, its causes and prevention techniques.

Let’s find out some useful information on pancreas cancer and its various support groups helping the needful.

Also find a brief description on pancreas cancer research. Get the information right now!!

Do you know? Pancreas cancer strikes approximately 5 out of every 100,000 people every year and is one of the deadliest forms of cancer. Quiet Sickening!

Pancreas cancer is not SINGLE! In fact, as many as twenty different tumors have been lumped under the umbrella term “pancreas cancer.”

Each of these tumors has a different appearance when examined under the microscope.

Some of these forms require different treatments, and each carries its own unique prognosis. For rational treatment an understanding of the different types of pancreatic tumors is required.

Mutations play a role!! Pancreas cancer is a genetic disease which means that it is caused by changes in DNA. These sudden changes in DNA are called mutations.

These changes can be inherited, this means that we are born with them or they can be acquired, meaning they develop after we are born.

Hi Readers! Please find a short description on pancreatic cancer with its origin and incidence details.

Also brief information on pancreatic cancer research can be found.

Origin! Pancreatic cancer is a malignant tumor within the pancreatic gland.

When cells in the pancreas grow abnormally and spread to form cancerous cells or tumors, pancreatic cancer originates.

Gosh So Dangerous! This is considered as one of the most difficult cancers to treat as it is asymptomatic, undetectable by a physical exam and progresses quickly.

Note that most patients die within 6 months of diagnosis. These factors also limit the amount of data available for research, hindering significant advances in the understanding of the disease.

You must know this! In the United States pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death and worldwide the fifth leading cause of cancer death.

Cancer of the pancreas accounts for only about 2% of the cancers diagnosed each year. However, making it a leading cause of cancer death the five-year survival rate is less than 5%.

Incidence! In the United States the pancreatic cancer incidence is 50-90% higher in African Americans than in any other racial group.