When you or someone you love receives a pancreatic cancer diagnosis, it can feel a bit like you’ve arrived in a foreign land.
The decisions you make are potentially life-changing and people all around you are speaking in terms you don’t understand. “It’s natural for patients and loved ones to begin reading everything they can about pancreatic cancer, and that’s a good practice,” Dr. Allyson Ocean, medical oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. “But often when they begin reading medical journals or talking to members of their health care team, they get lost fixating on terms they don’t know.”
One way to get a leg up on your new world? Learn the language. …
When you have a difficult-to-diagnose disease, and one that’s relatively rare and tough to treat, finding meaningful answers can be a challenge.
That’s where the World Pancreatic Cancer Coalition (WPCC) comes in. Founded in 2016, WPCC brings together more than 95 member organizations that represent 35 countries to raise awareness and advance research.
“There are so many organizations around the world that focus on pancreatic cancer,” says Julie Fleshman, President and CEO of Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN), and Chair of the Steering Committee of WPCC. …
A pancreatic cancer diagnosis can be devastating. Yet there is often hope for everyone facing this disease.
Let’s Win! Pancreatic Cancer announces a series of videos from people who have survived five years or more. Hear their stories in their own words. It is our hope that this series will encourage everyone fighting this dreadful disease.
This video series was inspired by Juliette Gimon and made possible through the generous support of the Flora Family Foundation.
With special thanks to all of the survivors who opened their hearts and homes to be part of this special initiative.
El tratamiento del cáncer de páncreas es complejo, y atravesar la quimioterapia incluye muchos contratiempos, cambios, obstáculos y desvíos.
Pero hacer las preguntas correctas antes de comenzar la quimioterapia puede ayudarle a asegurarse de que está en el mejor camino para luchar contra la enfermedad de manera eficaz. “Cuando se recibe un diagnóstico difícil como el de cáncer de páncreas, es importante reunir información y conectarse con los recursos que le pueden ayudar a controlar la enfermedad y sobrellevar los tratamientos”, dice el Dr. Andrew Hendifar, M.P.H., codirector de oncología de páncreas y oncología gastrointestinal y neuroendocrina en Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Center en Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles.
Nueve preguntas importantes sobre quimioterapia
Sin importar el esquema terapéutico que su médico elija primero…
You don’t need to be a scientist to understand the concept of biomarkers.
They are simply characteristics of the body that can be measured. Your temperature, blood pressure, glucose, and cholesterol readings are all good examples of biomarkers that can inform your doctor about your health. Clinicians and researchers rely on biomarkers for many applications including diagnosis, disease staging, monitoring a clinical response to a drug, and disease prognosis, among others.
A new phase II study from Canada called NeoPancONE is focused on validating a tiny protein called GATA6 as a potential biomarker of response in upfront resectable pancreas cancer patients who receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy (before surgery) as well as adjuvant chemotherapy (after…
If you have a first-degree family member (parent, sibling, or child) with pancreatic cancer, knowing your own risk of developing the disease just got a little bit easier — the innovative GENERATE Study has expanded its eligibility parameters.
With a dismally low five-year survival rate for locally advanced and metastatic disease coupled with the fact that the majority of patients are diagnosed too late for potentially curative surgical intervention, a highly promising way to positively affect pancreatic cancer mortality is to identify those at highest risk of the disease, says Sapna Syngal, M.D., M.P.H., who is leading the study at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston). “This is a study that can help someone right now,” says Syngal, who serves as Director of Research, Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention and Director, Gastrointestinal Cancer Genetics and Prevention Clinics at…
Let’s Win is introducing patients’ voices to our Managing Pancreatic Cancer section.
Patients and survivors will share useful information about how they managed their care during treatment, their experiences traveling after having Whipple surgery, why they have become advocates, and what they are doing to help others facing the same diagnosis.
We will also convene an occasional roundtable, where we ask different people the same questions. Our first roundtable focuses on telling people about your diagnosis. At the table are David Dessert, a BRCA2-positive advocate; Miggie Olsson, a long-term survivor who volunteers with patients; and John Moisan, a five-year survivor and advocate.
How did you tell your family and friends that you have pancreatic cancer?
Everyone told their immediate family first, in person when they…
La cantidad de personas afectadas por el nuevo coronavirus (COVID-19) es difícil de precisar, ya que se hacen análisis a cada vez más personas.
Pero algo es claro: hay medidas que uno puede tomar para protegerse. Aunque cualquier persona puede contraer el COVID-19, las mayores de 60 años y aquellas con sistemas inmunitarios comprometidos tienen un mayor riesgo no solo de contraer el virus, sino también de tener complicaciones más graves.
En lo que respecta a la edad, las personas mayores no tienen un sistema inmunitario tan fuerte como las más jóvenes. Y si se está recibiendo tratamiento para el…
The numbers of people afflicted with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) seems like a moving target, as more and more people are tested.
One piece of advice has remained very clear: there are steps you can take to protect yourself. Although anyone can catch the COVID-19 virus, people over the age of 60 and those with compromised immune systems are at greater risk not only of catching the virus, but also experiencing more severe complications.
When it comes to age alone, folks who are older don’t have as robust an immune system as those who are younger. And if you are…
The pancreas has many functions, and one of its most important roles is the regulation of blood sugar.
To reduce blood sugar levels, the pancreas produces insulin. To increase blood sugar, the pancreas produces glucagon. But far too often, the complex mechanisms that keep this finely tuned balancing act functioning perfectly can go awry. The result: diabetes, a chronic condition that has been called a 21st century epidemic, affecting about 9 percent of the U.S. population.
There’s no doubt diabetes is a serious condition increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke, vascular and kidney problems, vision loss, and premature death. But diabetes can also increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. …
