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It’s pancreatic cancer awareness month

by Henry Scowcroft | Analysis

2 November 2014

6 comments 6 comments

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10 things about pancreatic cancer
This post is 10 years old, so some information may be outdated

It’s November, and that means its pancreatic cancer awareness month. Pancreatic cancer is one of the hardest forms of cancer to treat successfully, and survival rates have remained stubbornly low for decades.

As part of our new research strategy, we will change this. So as well as trying to jump-start new research into the disease (and ultimately improve things for patients), over the last few months we’ve produced or updated a whole range of content on our website and other channels.

Here are a few things that might be of interest – please feel free to share them as widely as you can.

Information and advice

Our patient information website has up-to-date, easy-to-understand pages about pancreatic cancer, including what it is, its symptoms, how it’s diagnosed, the current treatments, and what it’s like living with the disease.

We also have a ‘key facts’ page as part of our Cancer Statistics sections.

And you can search for current pancreatic cancer trials on our Trials Database.

Videos

At the top of this post, you can watch an animated run-down of the facts about pancreatic cancer. We also made this video with Yasmin and Margaret about Yasmin’s father Shaukat, who sadly died from the disease:

Research

You can find out about our work on pancreatic cancer on this page, but we’ve also published several blog posts this year about the progress we’re making:

  • In this post, we spoke to world expert and Cancer Research UK clinical scientist Professor Andrew Biankin, about why he thinks we need a ‘can do’ attitude in pancreatic cancer research.

We’re under no illusions about how much work there is to do here. Pancreatic cancer remains a terrible challenge for all those involved in it – patients, their friends and family, their doctors, and the researchers who want to understand and overcome it.

But with your support, we will beat this disease.

Henry

    Comments

  • Nick Peel
    21 January 2015

    Hi Guillermo, thanks for your comment.
    Often other treatments like surgery and chemotherapy are used to treat pancreatic cancer. But occasionally radiotherapy can be helpful and we have information about it here. At the moment in the UK, radiosurgery isn’t a commonly used treatment for pancreatic cancer as it’s not known if it gets better results than other treatment approaches. If you want to find out more about what radiosurgery is you can read about it here.
    Best wishes,
    Nick, Cancer Research UK

  • Guillermo
    17 January 2015

    What’s the difference between radiation therapy and radio surgery in a patient with pancreatic cancer?

  • Brenda Crane
    4 November 2014

    My paternal grandmother and my father both died of pancreatic cancer. Is there,any research that this could be inherited as it obviously concerns me?

  • reply
    Henry Scowcroft
    11 November 2014

    Brenda,
    Pancreatic cancer can run in families, but this is very uncommon and most cases will be sporadic (not related to family history).  There’s information about the links between pancreatic cancer and family history on our website, which you can read if you follow this link: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/type/pancreatic-cancer/about/pancreatic-cancer-risks-and-causes#genetic If you have any concerns, you can talk to your GP, or contact our cancer nurses on 0808 800 40 40. Phone lines are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

    Best wishes,
    Henry
    Cancer Research UK

  • Nick Peel
    3 November 2014

    Thank you for your comments, we’re sorry to hear about your situations. If you would like to talk to someone about it you can call our Cancer Information nurses on freephone 0808 800 4040 (9am-5pm, Monday to Friday) or send them an email through this form. You can also chat online to others in a similar situation here.

    Best wishes,
    Nick, Cancer Research UK

  • nicola Lewis
    2 November 2014

    My partner is a very poorly man at the moment. It took 4 trips to A&E, before he was hospitalised & told he had cancer 6th March this year… Just finished 8 bouts of chemo, nothing more they can do. So we wait to see what happens next. It’s a terrible illness, so hard to watch the person you love in pain & feel so helpless. it’s the unknown & how much time we have left that is SOOO hard. Not sure what I will do when he’s no longer here, he’s such a kind man. We have just come back from a family holiday so made more memories

  • Sheryl Roberts
    2 November 2014

    My partner was diagnosed 3 years ago, he had no symptoms apart from what we thought was a hernia, a pain in his left side, but scan revealed a tumour in pancreas and spots In His liver. A total shock, but two days after diagnosis he started to go jaundiced. He had gained weight over a few years but lost two stones after stent fitted. He battled on for 18 months before he lost his fight. H had always had tummy issues, cramps, excess wind, he ate a healthy diet, never smoked and only a glass or so of wine a week, if that. He tried to loose weight, exercised, ate well, but no luck.

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    Comments

  • Nick Peel
    21 January 2015

    Hi Guillermo, thanks for your comment.
    Often other treatments like surgery and chemotherapy are used to treat pancreatic cancer. But occasionally radiotherapy can be helpful and we have information about it here. At the moment in the UK, radiosurgery isn’t a commonly used treatment for pancreatic cancer as it’s not known if it gets better results than other treatment approaches. If you want to find out more about what radiosurgery is you can read about it here.
    Best wishes,
    Nick, Cancer Research UK

  • Guillermo
    17 January 2015

    What’s the difference between radiation therapy and radio surgery in a patient with pancreatic cancer?

  • Brenda Crane
    4 November 2014

    My paternal grandmother and my father both died of pancreatic cancer. Is there,any research that this could be inherited as it obviously concerns me?

  • reply
    Henry Scowcroft
    11 November 2014

    Brenda,
    Pancreatic cancer can run in families, but this is very uncommon and most cases will be sporadic (not related to family history).  There’s information about the links between pancreatic cancer and family history on our website, which you can read if you follow this link: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/type/pancreatic-cancer/about/pancreatic-cancer-risks-and-causes#genetic If you have any concerns, you can talk to your GP, or contact our cancer nurses on 0808 800 40 40. Phone lines are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

    Best wishes,
    Henry
    Cancer Research UK

  • Nick Peel
    3 November 2014

    Thank you for your comments, we’re sorry to hear about your situations. If you would like to talk to someone about it you can call our Cancer Information nurses on freephone 0808 800 4040 (9am-5pm, Monday to Friday) or send them an email through this form. You can also chat online to others in a similar situation here.

    Best wishes,
    Nick, Cancer Research UK

  • nicola Lewis
    2 November 2014

    My partner is a very poorly man at the moment. It took 4 trips to A&E, before he was hospitalised & told he had cancer 6th March this year… Just finished 8 bouts of chemo, nothing more they can do. So we wait to see what happens next. It’s a terrible illness, so hard to watch the person you love in pain & feel so helpless. it’s the unknown & how much time we have left that is SOOO hard. Not sure what I will do when he’s no longer here, he’s such a kind man. We have just come back from a family holiday so made more memories

  • Sheryl Roberts
    2 November 2014

    My partner was diagnosed 3 years ago, he had no symptoms apart from what we thought was a hernia, a pain in his left side, but scan revealed a tumour in pancreas and spots In His liver. A total shock, but two days after diagnosis he started to go jaundiced. He had gained weight over a few years but lost two stones after stent fitted. He battled on for 18 months before he lost his fight. H had always had tummy issues, cramps, excess wind, he ate a healthy diet, never smoked and only a glass or so of wine a week, if that. He tried to loose weight, exercised, ate well, but no luck.