Palliative Treatment of Cancer of the Pancreas

Abstract

The American Cancer Society estimated that in 1992 cancer of the pancreas would occur in 28 300 people in the United States and that 25 000 Americans would die from the disease in the same year. The incidence of cancer of the pancreas in 1920 was 3 per 100 000 and has been 9 per 100 000 since 1970. The incidence increases with age, and the median survival is approximately 6 months. The survival is 8% at 1 year and 3% at 5 years. The cancer is rarely discovered early: 90% of patients will have positive regional nodes and 60%–80% will have liver metastases at the time of diagnosis. The disease is rare in patients aged below 40 years; 90% of the malignancies are ductal cell adenocarcinomas, and 60% of the cancers occur in the head of the pancreas.