www.pancreas.org

Patients > Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth or fifth leading cause of death due to cancer in the virtually all industrialized countries, and causing more than 31,000 deaths per year in the United States, surpassing deaths from prostate cancer. Pancreatic cancer is difficult to detect, hard to diagnose, early to metastasize and resistant to treatment. At least three characteristics of pancreatic cancer contribute to the high mortality and short live expectancy. These characteristics are resistance of pancreatic cancer to chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, marked muscle and fat wasting (chachexia) and rapid death from a relatively small tumor burden and early metastasis, occurring before detection by usual means. The synergistic interaction of these three features makes pancreatic cancer one of the deadliest of all cancers. Therefore, the early detection of pancreatic cancer is critical to the development of effective treatments.

Dr. Whitcomb's laboratory group believes that the key to
reversing the poor prognosis of this disease is to:

identify the early genetic alterations in pancreatic cancer and to
develop rational screening strategies, risk assessment and targeted treatments options.

Visitors to this site may have one of many concerns. If you have pancreatic cancer and would like to identify treatment options at the University of Pittsburgh, you have several options. If the diagnosis is suspected but unconfirmed, or if has NOT spread, you should email Leslie. If you have pancreatic and it spread outside the pancreas you should visit the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute web site for information on pancreatic cancer and treatment options. If you are concerned about the slow progress in diagnosing and treating pancreatic cancer you can visit the National Cancer Institute web site report on Pancreatic Cancer Progress Review Group report "Pancreatic Cancer: An Agenda for Action" (Dr Whitcomb lead the "Risk, Prevention, Screening and Detection" discussions and wrote this sections of the report). For more information on pancreatic cancer from the National Cancer Institute see Cancer.gov.

Erlotinib Approved for Pancreatic Cancer
The U. S. Food and Drug Administration approved erlotinib (Tarceva® Tablets, OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc.) in combination with gemcitabine for the treatment of patients with locally advanced, unresectable or metastatic pancreatic carcinoma. Unfortunately, the improvement was moderate at best with overall survival extended from 6.0 to 6.4 months (about 2 weeks). Response to the new drug was associated with a rash. Further information, including clinical trial information, safety, dosing, drug-drug interactions and contraindications is available from the Food and Drug Administration. www.fda.gov/cder/foi/label/2005/021743s003lbl.pdf

If you would like to contribute funds directly to pancreatic cancer research focusing on risk, prevention, screening and early detection, please e-mail Joy for more information.

NCI CancerNet
Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Genetic and Environmental Risk (PAGER) study
If you or your family member has recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, please contact Beth
Pancreas Cancer Clinical Trials at PCI

DISCLAIMER: This information is designed as a tool for background for pancreatic disorders and is not designed to serve as sole medical advice or meant to replace a full medical evaluation. Please consult your personal physician for additional information before making any changes to your diet, lifestyle, or medical treatment.

Updated March 28, 2005