New Study Shows Pancreatic Cancer is a Slow Killer

Pancreatic cancer has long been considered a quick, aggressive killer that originates in the pancreas and rapidly spreads to other organs. But, a recent study published in the October 28th issue of the journal Nature by scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore indicates that this assumption is false. First, researchers sequenced the genetic profiles of 24 pancreatic cancers taken from autopsied patients to identify gene mutations.

Cancer samples were taken from both the primary tumor in the pancreas and from metastatic tumors in other organs. Senior researchers Dr. Bert Vogelstein and Dr. Christine Iacobuzio-Donahue led a team that applied a mathematical model to the mutations in the cancer genes to determine how long it took the cancer to grow and spread. Their findings indicate that it takes, on average, 11.7 years for a mutation to develop into a cancer cell.

It then takes an average of an additional 6.8 years for the cancer cell to develop into a tumor capable of spreading to other organs.

The average life expectancy from that point was 2.7 years. Until it begins to spread, pancreatic cancer produces few, if any, symptoms. By the time it is detected, pancreatic cancer is extremely difficult to treat.

This study indicates that routine screening could detect pancreatic cancer years before it becomes a danger, allowing it to be treated more easily and successfully.

A screening technique or test has not yet been developed that can detect pancreatic cancer early, but scientist believe that such technology could soon be available.

Pancreatic cancer screenings could then become a routine part of physical examinations, just as colon cancer screenings are for people over the age of 50.