Doctors Try Suffocating Stubborn Tumors - Cutting Off Blood Supply, Nutrients May Help In Pancreatic Cancer

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 12 May 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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Over the last 30 years, researchers have made some impressive strides in battling certain types of cancer. It's estimated, for example, that 99% of prostate cancer patients will survive at least five years and 9 out of 10 breast cancer patients will too.* While the numbers may not be quite as big when it comes to pancreatic cancer, the numbers are significant.

Having bought and rebuilt dozens of vintage juke boxes, Dr. Steve Qualman has an appreciation for just how much technology has changed when it comes to music. The same goes for his health. Diagnosed with pancreas cancer last summer, Steve knew what he was up against. Survival rates have barely changed in decades, but in his case...

"Right now they can't find my primary tumor on a CT scan, nor the original metastatic disease. I do have other areas that look like there's residual, but it's a very small amount of residual disease right now," says Qualman.

What's making the difference for these patients is a new approach that personalizes cancer treatments. Doctor Tanios Saab with Ohio State University's James Cancer Hospital says survival rates are still low, around 5%, but that number is nearly triple what it was a generation ago.

"For some of these patients, we actually see significant improvements in survival and, more importantly, in the quality of life," says Saab.

Dr. Saab says technology has lead to a better understanding of pancreas tumors and a better class of drugs to attack them. But the newest drugs don't attack the tumors themselves, instead they settle into the tissue around the tumor and starve it.

"The tumor needs blood and blood supply to grow. If you cut that off, then the tumor will be unlikely to grow and that's in the later stages," says Saab. These advances aren't lost on Steve. He was a doctor who worked around cancer most of his career. Knowing the small but sure steps that researchers are taking against this disease is music to his ears.

More than 100 times a day, someone is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the U.S.** Doctors say it can be hard to treat because there are few symptoms that allow them to catch it early. If you have dramatic and sudden weight loss or if your skin begins to appear yellow, those could be signs of trouble and you should see your doctor.

*Cancer Statistics 2008:Trends in Five-Year Survival (%) Rates, US, 1975-2003, American Cancer Society, retrieved April 2008 from http://www.cancer.org keywords: cancer statistics 2008
**Overview: Pancreatic Cancer, American Cancer Society, retrieved April 2008 from http://www.cancer.org

Ohio State University