Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Why Pancreatic Cancer Is So Deadly: It's Quite Difficult To Detect And It's Very Aggressive
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)
