lymphoma cancer survival rate | Pancreatic cancer: Why it remains the most dangerous

Pancreatic cancer: Why it remains the most dangerous

This Thursday, November 13th, is the first World Day to fight pancreatic cancer, the only one whose mortality continues to progress. But why is he so deadly?


Lightning. It is one of the most aggressive and deadly cancers that are: pancreatic cancer affects every year in France more than 10,000 new people (as many men as women). And while a significant improvement in the survival rate has been observed in recent years on many cancers (prostate, breast...), pancreatic cancer is resistant to all efforts of bio-medical research. It's even the only cancer whose mortality is increasing.

In the Face of this dramatic observation, patient associations from around the world and the Arcad Foundation in France (aid and research in digestive oncology) introduced the First World Day to fight pancreatic cancer on Thursday, November 13th. The goal? Mobilize and inform the public about a dreaded and yet unknown cancer.

A dark Prognosis
Because the prognosis of the people affected remains particularly bleak. According to data from the National Cancer Institute (CNIB), all stages, the 5-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer patients is only 5%. And even in the case of surgery followed by chemotherapy, survival is in the range of 20% to 5 years. Pancreatic cancer is a well-known part of the so-called lightning cancers.

How to fight against the devastating cancers?
An "anatomical situation" that makes it difficult to track

The first thing is the difficulty of tracking it down. Indeed, the pancreas is a digestive organ deeply buried in the abdomen, behind the stomach and close to the liver, intestine and a very dense network of blood vessels.

This "anatomical situation" makes the symptoms appear only late enough, at a stage where cancer has already been able to metastasize to nearby organs. Moreover, these  "Symptoms" are not very revealing because they are not specific and may have a different origin than cancer. Thus, only 20% of patients are diagnosed at a stage where the tumor can still be operated.

The other factor that makes this cancer so severe is that the tumors that are lodged in the pancreas are biologically very aggressive. However, the promiscuity of other organs and the blood vessel network makes the latter particularly vulnerable to metastasis. So many obstacles to the surgical solution.

Symptoms that are difficult to interpret
Rapid, the development of a tumor in the pancreas can manifest itself by strong and persistent pains behind the stomach or at the back level, especially when the cancer is located at the tail of the pancreas.

Digestion disorders can also occur: loss of appetite, difficulty digesting, nausea... which settle in time for several days or even several weeks. One of the major symptoms that must alert is the yellowing of the complexion of the people affected. Jaundice that can also be accompanied by itching, signs that the bile made by the liver no longer flows properly. These symptoms are more common for cancers that develop at the head of the pancreas.

Although pancreatic cancer remains one of the deadliest, the assumption is still making some progress.  "Many people continue to die. But what is clear is that we are curbing the evolution of the disease, there is an elongation of survival in the medium term, explains Prof. Pascal Hammel, gastroenterologist specialist in cancer in Beaujon hospital.