Pancreatic Cancer ‘Could Be Detected THREE YEARS Earlier’

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Every year more than 10,000 people in the UK and 60,000 in the US are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer could be diagnosed up to three years earlier if people were regularly weighed and their blood sugar checked, experts say.

Every year more than 10,000 people in the UK and 60,000 in the US are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

It has a tragically high mortality rate because about 90 percent of people are diagnosed too late for surgery, which is the only cure.

Now a study of more than 43,000 people in England has found the cancer could be detected three years earlier than it is now.

That’s when people in the early stages of pancreatic cancer develop abnormally high blood sugar.

Every year more than 10,000 people in the UK and 60,000 in the US are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer

The cancer could be found two years earlier than it is today if people’s weights were measured regularly, researchers suggest.

This is when people with early-stage pancreatic cancer become noticeably underweight compared to their peers.

Weight loss and rising blood sugar are major warning signs of pancreatic cancer, which has killed people like actors Alan Rickman, John Hurt and Patrick Swayze.

It is well known that tracking a person’s weight and blood sugar over time helps detect undiagnosed early-stage pancreatic cancer.

However, the results suggest that comparing a person’s weight and blood sugar changes to those of similar people could significantly improve the chances of an early diagnosis.

The researchers compared the body mass index (BMI) and blood glucose measurements of 8,777 pancreatic cancer patients with those of nearly 35,000 people of the same age and sex without pancreatic cancer.

If you look at the measured values ​​in the five years up to the diagnosis in the patients and in the same period in the people without cancer, clear differences became apparent very early on.

dr Agnieszka Lemanska, who led the study from the University of Surrey, said: “Significant weight loss and increases in blood sugar could be seen in patients years before pancreatic cancer was diagnosed.”

Ali Stunt, executive director of Pancreatic Cancer Action and co-author of the study, said, “I’m in the 1 percent who survive pancreatic cancer beyond 10 years, and it’s a lonely place.”

In the early stages of pancreatic cancer, people’s blood sugar rises because the damaged organ doesn’t produce enough insulin, the hormone that keeps blood sugar under control.

Weight loss and rising blood sugar are major warning signs of pancreatic cancer, which has killed people like actors Alan Rickman, John Hurt and Patrick Swayze

Pictured Patrick Swayze

Weight loss and rising blood sugar are major warning signs of pancreatic cancer, which has killed people like actors Alan Rickman, John Hurt and Patrick Swayze

Tumors can cause the body to burn more calories than usual, resulting in unexpected weight loss.

The study, published in the journal PLOS One, found that people with pancreatic cancer had a BMI nearly three units lower than a comparison group of people their age when they were diagnosed.

The average BMI of the cancer patients, calculated by dividing a person’s weight by their height, was 25.7, compared to an average BMI of 28.4 for people without cancer.

Importantly, the change in weight of people who later developed cancer was statistically different than that of other participants, on average, two years before their diagnosis.

But despite the importance of BMI, more than a third of cancer patients did not have their doctor take a weight measurement in the year before their diagnosis.

This shows the importance of regular weigh-ins, according to the scientists, who had to conduct their research with sporadic readings available at doctor’s appointments.

Regular blood tests, which could be fed into algorithms with BMI measurements, would also be useful to indicate people’s risk of pancreatic cancer and identify those at risk.

The study found that blood sugar was significantly elevated in people with cancer two years before diagnosis compared to non-cancer patients.

Weight loss was found to be particularly important for pancreatic cancer risk in people with diabetes, while rising blood sugar was more associated with pancreatic cancer risk in people without diabetes.

Diabetes and pancreatic cancer are often seen together, but diabetes, like pancreatic cancer, often goes undiagnosed.

Weighing and blood glucose testing could help diagnose both diabetes and pancreatic cancer, allowing cancer patients to be quickly rushed for a scan and life-saving surgeries.

WHAT IS PANCREA CANCER?

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of the disease, and about 95 percent of people who contract it die from it.

Joan Crawford, Patrick Swayze and Luciano Pavarotti all died of pancreatic cancer.

It is the sixth leading cause of cancer deaths in the UK – around 10,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the UK each year, alongside around 55,000 in the US.

WHAT IS THE REASON?

It is caused by the abnormal and uncontrolled growth of cells in the pancreas – a large gland in the digestive system.

WHO IS AT THE HIGHEST RISK?

Most cases (90 percent) occur in people over the age of 55.

About half of all new cases occur in people aged 75 and over.

One in 10 cases is attributed to genetics.

Other possible causes include age, smoking, and other health conditions, including diabetes.

WHY IS IT SO DEADLY?

There is no screening procedure for pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer typically has no symptoms in the early stages when it is more manageable.

Sufferers tend to develop the tell-tale signs — jaundice and abdominal pain — around stage 3 or 4, when they’re likely to have spread to other organs.

WHAT ARE THE TREATMENT OPTIONS?

The only effective treatment is removal of the pancreas.

This proves largely ineffective for those whose cancer has spread to other organs.

In these cases, palliative care is recommended to relieve their pain at the end of their lives.

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