About Pancreatic Cancer

The pancreas is a gland in the abdomen, performing a number of roles:

• It produces pancreatic juices, which help digest food in the intestines.
• It produces insulin, which helps the body to use glucose.

There are two types of cancer which can affect the pancreas – cancer of the pancreas itself, and – much less commonly – cancer of the cells that produce insulin.

Pancreatic cancer tends to produce only minor or vague symptoms until it is well advanced. There is no early detection test. Also, the pancreas is not easily accessible. As a consequence, pancreatic cancer is hard to treat.

If discovered early, before it has spread to other major organs such as the liver or lungs, the cancer may be treated by removing part of the pancreas. About 10% of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer fall into this category.

Each year, around 7,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and there are more than 6,600 deaths. It affects men and women in roughly equal proportions. This type of cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer death in the UK, and has the lowest survival rate of all cancers – approximately 3% of those diagnosed survive five years or more.

There is no early detection test, treatment is limited and there is no cure. Because symptoms generally do not appear until the disease is well advanced, the average survival time after diagnosis is just six months.