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THE numbers of people dying from pancreatic cancer in the EU have increased by 5 per cent between 1990 and 2016, a new report has revealed.
That’s the highest increase of any of the five top cancer killers, which include lung, colon, bad and prostate cancer.
Getty – Contributor
Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of all the cancers in Europe and is responsible for over 95,000 EU deaths every year.
After diagnosis, the average person lasts just 4.6 months, with patients losing 98 per cent of their healthy life expectancy.
While lung, bad and colorectal cancers have seen significant reductions in death rates since the start of the ’90s, deaths from pancreatic cancer continue to rise.
Experts now believe that it’s overtaken bad cancer to be the third leading cause of death from cancer in the EU, and in the UK, it’s the fifth most deadly cancer.
Reuters
The shocking findings have been published in the “Pancreatic Cancer Across Europe” report by United European Gastroenterology (UEG) to coincide with World Pancreatic Cancer Day.
One reason it’s so deadly is that symptoms are notoriously difficult to identify, so it’s really hard to make an early diagnosis.
Despite the rise in death rates and dreadfully low survival rates, pancreatic cancer receives less than 2 per cent of all cancer research funding in Europe.
Markus Peck, UEG expert, said: “If we are to take a stand against the continent’s deadliest cancer, we must address the insufficient research funding; that is where the European Union can lead the way.
What is pancreatic cancer, and what are the symptoms?
our pancreas helps with digestion. It produces juices full of enzymes which help to break down food, and it also makes hormones like insulin, which control blood sugar levels.
The vast majority of pancreatic cancer cases start in the cells which make the enzymes, but a less common type start in the cells which make the hormones.
Risk factors include age, smoking, being overweight, having a family history of the disease, pancreatitis and diabetes.
There’s also evidence to suggest that boozing, eating red and processed meat, having gallstones increase your changes.
People with blood groups A, AB and B may at a slightly higher risk, while blood group O might be less so.
Like many of these diseases, pancreatic cancer often doesn’t cause early signs – it’s only as the cancer grows that it starts causing symptoms.
The signs of the cancer can also be caused by things like IBS, pancreatitis, gallstones or hepatitis – so that makes it doubly confusing.
Common signs include:
- tummy and back pain
- unexplained weight loss
- indigestion
Other symptoms:
- loss of appetite
- changes to bowel habits (constipation, diarrhoea or steatorrhoea – pale, floating, smelly poo)
- jaundice
- recently diagnosed diabetes
- problems digesting food
- feeling and being sick
- difficulty swallowing
If you have jaundice, go to see your GP ASAP. If you have any of the other symptoms, seek medical advice after four weeks.
For more info, visit Pancreatic Cancer UK
“Whilst medical and scientific innovations have positively changed the prospects for many cancer patients, those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer have not been blessed with much clinically meaningful progress.
“To deliver earlier diagnoses and improved treatments we need to engage now in more basic as well as applied research to see real progress for our patients in the years to come.”
But it’s not all doom and gloom.
Experts believe that new treatment options may be on the horizon, as they investigate how changing the pancreas’ microbiome may help slow down tumour growth – enabling the body to develop its own “defence mechanism”.
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Pancreatic cancer expert Professor Thomas Seufferlein said: “Research looking at the impact of the microbiome on pancreatic cancer is a particularly exciting new area, as the pancreas was previously thought of as a sterile organ.
“Such research will also improve our understanding of the microenvironment in a metastatic setting and how the tumour responds to its environment. This will inform the metastatic behaviour and ultimately alter disease progression.”
“With continued investment in pancreatic cancer research, we should have new, important findings within the next five years and, hopefully, find that targeting the microbiome as well as tumour cells will significantly improve treatment outcomes and reduce death rates.”
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