Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is the 10th most common cancer type and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths. The vast majority of PCs are pancreatic adenocarcinomas. Diagnosis of small tumors at an early stage or dysplastic premalignant lesions that can be surgically resected offers patients the best chances for survival and can increase 5-year survival rates from approximately 5% to 20%–30%, or even higher, at specialized treatment centers. The early stages of PC are usually asymptomatic, and the aggressive nature of this disease, in combination with our limited capability for early detection, contribute to the very low percentage of patients (approximately 20%) diagnosed with resectable disease. Large numbers of early diagnoses are due to incidental findings during abdominal imaging procedures.