Why Pancreatic Cancer Is So Deadly: It’s Quite Difficult To Detect And It’s Very Aggressive
The problem is that pancreatic cancer usually has no symptoms until it is far advanced. Experts explain more about the deadly disease following "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek's announcement that he's been diagnosed.
The New York Times:
For Alex Trebek, The Toughest Question: Can He Face Down Pancreatic Cancer?
The cancer that has struck Alex Trebek, the 78-year-old host of the television quiz show “Jeopardy!,” is uncommon and devastating: a Stage 4 malignancy of the pancreas, the insulin-producing organ that lies behind the stomach. Pancreatic cancer strikes about 55,000 people each year in the United States, accounting for 3 percent of all cancers but 7 percent of all cancer deaths. That’s because it can be so difficult to detect and treat. Stage 4, unfortunately, is the most advanced level. (Kolata, 3/7)
The Washington Post:
Pancreatic Cancer: How The Disease Is Diagnosed And Survival Rates
In 2016, the disease became the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, overtaking breast cancer, and it is expected to overtake colorectal cancer to become the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the country by 2020, according to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. (The leading cause remains lung cancer.) (Wan, 3/7)
