European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 5, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 16 the stars and stripes saturday april 5, 1986 the Battle against cancer of the pancreas by Jane e. Brody new York times w Ith pancreatic cancer rapidly increasing in the United states As a killer disease american researchers Are redoubling their efforts to find ways to combat it. So far they Are nearly completely baffled As to what causes it How it can be detected in its Early stages and what treatments might control it at any stage. The numerous dead ends researchers have encountered in trying to make headway against this disease have been especially frustrating since it is the second most deadly cancer known Only a rare brain tumor has a higher mortality rate. Still recent studies have pointed to several common factors that might promote or inhibit the growth of this formidable disease. By far the most suspect cause is cigarette smoking. Although previous studies have shown a doubling of risk among smokers a new study of 490 patients in los Angeles county revealed that smoking a pack or More a Day was associated with a fivefold to sixfold increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. At the same time the study showed that 10 years after stopping smoking a person s risk is no greater than that faced by people who never smoked. The study one of the largest and most far reaching of its kind also indicated that having allergies May somehow protect against pancreatic cancer and that having stomach surgery can increase one s risk. However neither Coffee nor alcohol Long suspected As causes emerged As Clear Cut risks. In fact drinkers of table wine if anything showed a consistently lower risk of developing the disease. With Coffee the findings were inconsistent with a dose related increased risk found among nonsmoking men who drank Coffee but not among other people. Our study cannot absolve Coffee remarked the director of the research or. Thomas m. Mack an authority on pancreatic cancer from the University of Southern California. But neither does it support claims that Coffee is a significant an earlier Well publicized finding by or. Brian Macmahon at the Harvard school of Public health who found an increased risk of pancreatic cancer among Coffee drinkers has also not been supported by several other studies. One study showed an increased risk Only among drinkers of decaffeinated Coffee. Chemical exposure May play a role however. Or. Ruey s. Lin and or. Irving i. Kessler of the University of Maryland found a fivefold increased risk among men employed in the dry cleaning business or whose jobs exposed them to gasoline. This has prompted the suggestion that a carcinogenic solvent trichloroethylene used in dry cleaning and formerly used to decaffeinated Coffee May be a culprit. Laboratory research has revealed other tantalizing clues. Collaborative studies in rats recently published in the journal of the National cancer Institute by researchers at Dartmouth College and the new York state College of agriculture and life sciences at Cornell University have indicated that a diet Rich in vegetable oils can promote the development of chemically induced pancreatic cancers and that fish oils can protect against such cancers. Although experts like Mack caution against applying to people the findings in other animals whose pancreatic functions May differ these findings coincide with observations about the incidence of pancreatic cancer in people. The increase in the disease among americans for example has occurred at a time when there has been dramatic increase in consumption of fat particularly vegetable oils. And Greenland eskimos whose diet is very Rich in oils from fish and other Marine animals have a very Low incidence of this and other cancers. At the same time studies in Japan have linked pancreatic cancer to frequent consumption of meat which May indirectly reflect reduced consumption of fish or an increase in dietary fat. But at this Point All we can Tell people about preventing pancreatic cancer is to quit smoking which they be got plenty of other reasons to do anyway Mack said in an interview. Currently a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer the fourth leading cause of cancer death among americans is tantamount to a death sentence. The average patient lives just three months after diagnosis Only 10 to 15 percent of patients Are alive a year later and fewer than 1 percent of the patients survive five years. The disease is so deadly that cancer specialists Are immediately suspect when the rare patient is described As cured. As one doctor put it chances Are the diagnosis of cancer was not accurate to begin when asked for an interview about pancreatic cancer a specialist in its treatment at the National cancer Institute replied what Are you a sadist there s nothing Good to say about this though rarely mentioned and Little known by the Public perhaps because it is so rapidly fatal and afflicts mainly the elderly pancreatic cancer has become increasingly More common in recent decades its incidence rising threefold since 1950. The increase has occurred More among women than men More in Blacks than Whites and More in the elderly than the Young. According to estimates just released by the american cancer society 25,500 new cases will be diagnosed this year and 24,000 americans will die of the disease. Only cancers of the lung breast and Colon rectum kill More americans. Experts believe that although some of the increase in pancreatic cancer reflects improved diagnosis a real Rise in frequency has also occurred not just in the United states but in other countries As Well. In several european countries for example increases of two to five times have been recorded. Much of the problem in detecting and treating pancreatic cancer in its Early and possibly curable stage stems from the inaccessible location of this six Inch Long yellow coloured gland. It sits behind the stomach on the left Side of the Abdomen about a hand s Width below the heart. It s head touches the duodenum the uppermost Section of the Small intestine and its Tail extends to the spleen. Internal organs Are not sensitive to pressure and until a pancreatic cancer reaches a significant size it is unlikely to cause much More than vague discomfort and perhaps a Little weight loss. If and when the cancer blocks the flow of bile jaundice occurs that usually prompts a doctor visit and diagnostic studies. Even when found while still Small a pancreatic cancer is difficult to remove completely. For one thing it has a propensity to spread to surrounding tissues. For another the gland is so entangled with other essential tissues that the surgery is extremely hazardous. Even in expert hands the mortality rate of surgery is 4 percent or higher. Of every six patients with the disease Only one is a candidate for surgery at the time of diagnosis. Most Are either too old or too sick or their disease is too far advanced said or. Eli Glatstein head of radiation therapy at the National cancer Institute. The pancreas is a double duty Organ that is essential to the processing of food and its distribution to body cells. It is Best known for the Small Cluster of cells the islets of Langerhans that produce the hormone insulin which clears glucose from the blood by distributing it to body tissues. The bulk of the pancreas called the exocrine pancreas produces digestive enzymes the so called pancreatic juice that digests protein fat and starch and prepares them for absorption through the Small intestine. Hormones released by the Small intestine and perhaps also by the stomach act As signals for the release of pancreatic juice. These hormones act in response to the passage of food through the digestive tract. Why cancer of pancreas is hard to detect and treat be Mecava great vein not illustration vital organs surrounding. Cancer of pancreas escapes Early detection because gland seen above in front View is buried behind stomach deep in the Abdomen. It cannot be seen or Felt because it is surrounded by organs not very sensitive to pressure. Early symptoms Are usually vague and rarely prompt a doctor visit. And obscuring pancreas often the first clearcut symptom is jaundice which occurs when the growing cancer blocks the bile duct treatment is likewise difficult because the gland is hard to remove completely and both surgery and radiation can seriously damage the vital surrounding organs shown in rear View
