Re: re: panc. cancer

[Guest guest]

Terry,

from what I've read (mostly from a book titled: Pancreatic

Disease, State of the Art and Future Aspects of Research,

edited by P.G Lankisch and E.P. DiMagno - got i through

Amazon.com. Not cheap.), they don't really understand much

of the pathological process of pancreatic cancer. They know

some genes are associated with it, but not why or how they

cause/effect the cancer growth, etc.

Here's a quote from the article about epidemiology of both

chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic Cancer (title: Lessons

Learned about Pancreatitis and Pancreatic Cancer from

Epidemiological Studies. by A.B Lowenfels, P. Maisonneuve,

and P.G. Lankisch).

" However, since pancreatic cancer is related to smoking,

most of the observed increase is probably related to the

smoking epidemic.........Experimental and epidemiological

data conclusively support a strong relationship between

smoking and pancreatic cancer. Perhaps the strongest

evidence for this relationship comes from the remarkable

cohort study of British physicians, which has been conducted

for approximately 50 years.......The main findings with

respect to smoking and pancreatic cancer include: (a) There

is a clear dose response, the risk of pancreatic cancer

increasing with the cumulative increase in smoking exposure.

( Heavy smokers have about a threefold risk of pancreatic

cancer compared with nonsmokers. "

there is also some info on dietary causes:

" ....several dietary items are suspected to be risk factors

for pancreatic tumors. These include: high fat and high

carbohydrate diets and diets that are deficient in fruits,

fiber and vegetables. The list of suspected items is

similar to findings for other cancers. "

As for pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer:

" It now appears that patients with hereditary pancreatitis

have an execptionally high risk of developing pancreatic

cancer - about 50 times greater than background

rates.......The available evidence implies that chronic

pancreatitis is a risk factor for pancreatic cancer. This

is not entirely surprising, because in other digestive

organs such as the esophagus, the stomach, and the colon,

benign disease often precedes malignant disease. The

mechanism may be related to increased cell turnover.

Despite this probable link, chronic pancreatitis explains no

more than about 2 or 3 % of all pancreatic cancer cases. "

There was also some brief info on race being a factor, that

blacks were had a 50% higher chance of getting it than

whites. Also said that was consistent with smoking turmors

as well, though that doesn't completely explain why they are

so much more prone to getting it than whites.

Not sure how much help this is, but this is what I've

highlighted as I read the article. If I find the time, I

will try and scan the whole series of articles on Pancreatic

cancer. Just be warned that these articles are written

mainly for doctors, not the layman and they are extremely

technical in verbage.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Southwest Representative

Pancreatitis Association, International