November Is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month

Main Category: Pancreatic Cancer
Also Included In: GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology
Article Date: 16 Nov 2007 - 1:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Pancreatic cancer - the fourth-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States - doesn't normally show signs or symptoms until it's too late. If you experience jaundice, unexplained weight loss, and pain in the upper or middle abdomen and back, often these signs are confused with many other illnesses. About 37,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer will be diagnosed in 2007.

November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. Moffitt Cancer Center's Gastrointestinal Oncology Program has an early detection and screening program for pancreatic cancer. This program is the only one of its kind in the Southeast, says Dr. Mokenge P. Malafa, head of the division of Gastrointestinal Oncology. Moffitt doctors and researchers are recruiting for this program and several other innovative clinical trials in pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Jason Klapman, an endoscopic oncologist at Moffitt, is the principal investigator of this screening trial targeting patients at high risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Once participants are identified, an endoscopic ultrasound is used to detect the early stages of cancer. Patients are studied for five years.

The patients eligible for this early detection trial have a very strong family history of pancreatic cancer or a genetic syndrome linked with pancreatic cancer .This patient population represents about 10 percent of patients with pancreatic cancer. Moffitt doctors hope this screening clinical trial will make a difference in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

"The incidence of pancreatic cancer is not high enough to screen the general population," Malafa says. "Here is a program for early detection, which is designed for patients at high risk of developing pancreatic cancer."

About Moffitt Cancer Center

Located in Tampa, Florida, Moffitt Cancer Center is the only Florida-based cancer center with the NCI designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center for its excellence in research and contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Moffitt currently has 15 affiliates in Florida, one in Georgia and two in Puerto Rico. Additionally, Moffitt is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a prestigious alliance of the country's leading cancer centers, and is listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer and ear, nose and throat. Moffitt's sole mission is to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer.

http://www.moffitt.org

• Additional
• References
• Citations