HERE'S SOMETHING that's truly scary for us to think about this Halloween: Pancreatic cancer is not only difficult to spot but the wretched disease could be living in us without us knowing about it for years until it rears its ugly head!
However the good news is that there is always hope for patients when the mostly fatal disease is diagnosed early. PET+BLOGSPOT
28 October 2010 Last updated at 01:28 GMT
However the good news is that there is always hope for patients when the mostly fatal disease is diagnosed early. PET+BLOGSPOT
28 October 2010 Last updated at 01:28 GMT
Lethal pancreatic cancer 'grows for decades'
Pancreatic cancer may lurk in the body for many years before patients fall ill, US scientists sayResearch hints at earlier opportunities to spot and treat the disease, which is fatal in 95% of cases.
Genetic analysis of tumours by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Johns Hopkins University suggested the first mutations may happen 20 years before they become lethal.
UK survival rates for the disease have not improved in the past 40 years.
The disease is often aggressive and unresponsive to treatment by the time it is diagnosed.
The study, published by the Nature journal, found that tumours appear to be slow growing.
Insight They looked at tissue samples, both from the "primary" tumours in the pancreas, and from other parts of the body to which the cancer had spread, called "metastatic" tumours.
The DNA in every gene of these tumours was sequenced, looking for signs of mutations - points at which the genetic code has changed.
On average each metastatic tumour had 61 cancer-related mutations. Two-thirds of these had been present in the original pancreatic tumour.
Using this "molecular clock", the researchers estimated that on average, it took 11.7 years for a single gene mutation in a pancreas cell to become a "mature" pancreatic tumour.
From this point, an average of another 6.8 years elapsed before cells from the pancreatic tumour formed a tumour in another organ.
However, once this stage had been reached, less than three years passed before the patient died.
So, from start to finish, the development of the disease took more than 20 years on average.
Researcher Dr Bert Vogelstein said that there had been two theories about why pancreatic tumours were so lethal - either that they were highly aggressive from the start, or that they were so advanced at the time of diagnosis, that little could be done.
He said: "We were surprised and pleased to discover that this second theory is correct, at least for a major fraction of tumours.
"It means that there is a window of opportunity for early detection of pancreatic cancer."
'Early diagnosis need' Dr Elizabeth Rapley, from the UK's Institute of Cancer Research, said that the findings also helped explain just why the disease was so hard to treat once it had spread around the body.
She said: "It showed that the genetic code changed as it spreads to other organs. This could mean that developing effective treatments for patients with advanced disease will be challenging."
The Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund welcomed the findings, but said that research was underfunded in the UK.
Chief executive Maggie Blanks said: "Survival rates have not improved in the past 40 years and whilst the disease is the UK's fifth biggest cause of cancer death, it receives less than 2% of overall research funding.
"I'm particularly pleased that the study underlines the need for early diagnosis as there is nothing currently available."
Pancreatic cancer may lurk in the body for many years before patients fall ill, US scientists say
Genetic analysis of tumours by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Johns Hopkins University suggested the first mutations may happen 20 years before they become lethal.
UK survival rates for the disease have not improved in the past 40 years.
The disease is often aggressive and unresponsive to treatment by the time it is diagnosed.
The study, published by the Nature journal, found that tumours appear to be slow growing.
Insight They looked at tissue samples, both from the "primary" tumours in the pancreas, and from other parts of the body to which the cancer had spread, called "metastatic" tumours.
The DNA in every gene of these tumours was sequenced, looking for signs of mutations - points at which the genetic code has changed.
On average each metastatic tumour had 61 cancer-related mutations. Two-thirds of these had been present in the original pancreatic tumour.
Because such genetic mutations occur at a relatively steady rate, this accumulation of mutations offers an insight into just how long the cancer had been developing and growing at each stage.
Using this "molecular clock", the researchers estimated that on average, it took 11.7 years for a single gene mutation in a pancreas cell to become a "mature" pancreatic tumour.
From this point, an average of another 6.8 years elapsed before cells from the pancreatic tumour formed a tumour in another organ.
However, once this stage had been reached, less than three years passed before the patient died.
So, from start to finish, the development of the disease took more than 20 years on average.
Researcher Dr Bert Vogelstein said that there had been two theories about why pancreatic tumours were so lethal - either that they were highly aggressive from the start, or that they were so advanced at the time of diagnosis, that little could be done.
He said: "We were surprised and pleased to discover that this second theory is correct, at least for a major fraction of tumours.
"It means that there is a window of opportunity for early detection of pancreatic cancer."
'Early diagnosis need' Dr Elizabeth Rapley, from the UK's Institute of Cancer Research, said that the findings also helped explain just why the disease was so hard to treat once it had spread around the body.
She said: "It showed that the genetic code changed as it spreads to other organs. This could mean that developing effective treatments for patients with advanced disease will be challenging."
The Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund welcomed the findings, but said that research was underfunded in the UK.
Chief executive Maggie Blanks said: "Survival rates have not improved in the past 40 years and whilst the disease is the UK's fifth biggest cause of cancer death, it receives less than 2% of overall research funding.
"I'm particularly pleased that the study underlines the need for early diagnosis as there is nothing currently available."
PET+BLOGSPOT is the ONLINE BLOG of the Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled and Elderly Association (Petpositive). Our reports and stories are CURRENT, ACCURATE and RELIABLE. We offer both local and foreign news on animals, disability and the elderly. PET+BLOGSPOT was first established in October 2007. Our hits since then is now 70,000 and going strong! PET+BLOGSPOT is updated daily. Sometimes even twice or three times a day. Kindly take note that views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of PETPOSITIVE. You may also visit our Webpage by browsing: www.petpositive.com.my You can also find us in Facebook as PETPOSITIVE EMPOWERMENT. Please sign up as a FOLLOWER of this Blog if you haven't done so already in order to show us your kind support. Thank you!
1 comment:
Aside from the regular check up also make sure the follow up treatment is done by a professional Oncologist and no body else !
Post a Comment