Pancreatic cancer is difficult to diagnose. Most of the time it isdiscovered so late that death is almost imminent, but new researchshows this disease may be prevented if people can control their weight.
Roger Giles has pancreatic cancer. Most people with thisdisease die within a year of their diagnosis, but Giles is bettingagainst the odds.
"My fullest intention is to overcome thisdisease and move on with life, hopefully be prepared for surgery herein the immediate future, and get on with my life," says Roger Giles.
Doctor Mohammed Kalan teaches surgery at the George Washington University School of Medicine.
"Unfortunately,there are no reliable, routine blood tests that can be done on aregular basis to preemptively catch pancreatic cancer or catch it at anearly stage," says Dr. Mohammed Kalan.
Dr. Kalan says the location of the pancreas makes diagnosis especially difficult.
"Thisis a deep-seated organ, and a tumor in the pancreas can growconsiderably before a patient can have any symptoms," says Dr. Kalan.
The pancreas is partly hidden by the stomach.
Surgeryis the only cure for early stage pancreatic cancer. So far, nothing cancure later stages of this disease which is when it is usually diagnosed.
Butresearchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center saythere may be a way to help prevent it. Professor Donghui Li says thereis a link between a person's weight and pancreatic cancer.
"Increasingevidence suggests that there is [an] association between beingoverweight and obesity with the risk of pancreatic cancer," saysProfessor Li.
Professor Li compared information from more than800 pancreatic cancer patients with 754 healthy people. She asked themto recall their weight at various times in their lives.
Thestudy found those who were overweight as teens were twice as likely todevelop pancreatic cancer as their slimmer counterparts.
People who were obese as young adults had double the chance of developing this disease than adults who had never been obese.
Roger Giles was obese before his diagnosis. He acknowledges the role that his weight may have played in his illness.
"It's a terrible price to pay for being overweight," says Roger Giles.
Thestudy also found that being overweight was a factor in having adiagnosis two to six years before other patients with pancreatic cancerwho were not overweight.
"Weight control at [an] early age, at young adulthood, is most important to reduce the risk of cancer," says Professor Li.
ProfessorLi says the association between being overweight and pancreatic cancerwas stronger in men than in women. The research showed it was alsostronger in smokers than in those who had never smoked.
The study appears in the