Brody, Jane E. "PANCREATIC CANCER: CIGARETTE SMOKING IS STRONGEST LINK TO DEADLY DISEASE." New York Times 25 Mar. 1986. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 27 Sept. 2010
- Second most deadly cancer known
- Cigarette smoking; most suspected reason for pancreatic cancer
- "a new study of 490 patients in Los Angeles County revealed that smoking a pack or more a day was associated with a fivefold to sixfold increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer"
- Coffee drinkers may also be at risk for pancreatic cancer
- ''But at this point, all we can tell people about preventing pancreatic cancer is to quit smoking, which they've got plenty of other reasons to do anyway,'' Dr. Mack said in an interview.
- Average patient lives 3 months after diagnosed
- 10 - 15 percent live the first year
- Less then 1 percent live after the first 5 years
- "The increase has occurred more among women than men, more in blacks than whites and more in the elderly than the young"
- 25,500 will be diagnoised this year and 24,000 will die from it
- Sometimes people don’t even know they have this cancer because it takes so long to form and it gives off very few signs as it is forming
- Can spread to surrounding tissues
- For evey 6 patients only 1 can even get surgery most are either too old, too sick or there disease is too far advanced.
- Radiation therapy sometimes doesn’t even work because it is too hard to get a good amount to the cancer cells without damaging normal tissues
- Chemotherapy doesn’t necessarly work either.
- Dr. Glatstein put it: ''Right now we're all grasping for straws. This is a tumor against which we've not made one single improvement in the last 30 to 40 years.''
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