Patrick Swayze's Death Forces Us to Ask: What Do We Know About Pancreatic Cancer?

In the wake of Patrick Swayze's death the cause of pancreatic cancer is of interest. What is pancreatic cancer? What can you do if you have pancreatic cancer? Is there a screen for pancreatic cancer? Is there a cause that results in pancreatic cancer arising in one person and not another that has been identified?

Denise Mann, WebMD News has written an article titled "Patrick Swayze Dies of Pancreatic Cancer." Further she tells us the causes and risks that are known by the medical field.

When Patrick Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer he was at a "stage IV" which is the most advanced stage. Pancreatic cancer is extremely rare and there is no effective screen so it is rarely caught early. In Swayze's case his cancer had spread to his liver.

His only chance for survival then was aggressive chemotherapy and an experimental medication called vatalanib.

How rare is pancreatic cancer?

The number of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is 42,470 and the United States population is 304,059,724. That means only 1 in every 7,159 people is diagnosed with the illness. Since only 35,420 of those people die then only 1 out of every 8,584 die of pancreatic cancer.

The average life span of someone who has been diagnosed is about two years.

In pancreatic cancer it is not known why the pancreas begins to multiply abnormal cells.

In fact the causes are still largely unknown.

However, there are specific risk factors that are known to be associated with pancreatic cancer and we know that Patrick Swayze had at least one.

If a person smokes they are at risk for pancreatic cancer. Further the longer they smoke and the heavier of a smoker they are, the greater the chance of getting the disease.

If a person is a diabetic it seems that they are at risk for pancreatic cancer. Also if a person is obese they may develop pancreatic cancer.

Thanks to Pancreatic Swayze pancreatic cancer has been brought to the fore.

As you age this is a condition, since it does not show symptoms early, that you should keep in the back of your mind to have your doctor check.

References:

http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=current+population+of+united+states&btnG=Google+Search

http://www.webmd.com/cancer/pancreatic-cancer/news/20090915/patrick-swayze-dies-of-pancreatic-cancer