Pancreatic Cancer Support Group

The most common form of this disease is known as adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. It is one of the most lethal forms of cancer with few victims still alive 5 years after diagnosis, and complete remission still extremely rare.

A less common, and typically far less aggressive form of pancreatic cancer, is called islet-cell tumor (and is sometimes also known by the term neuroendocrine tumor).

Patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer typically have a poor prognosis because the cancer usually causes no symptoms early on, leading to metastatic disease at time of diagnosis. Median survival from diagnosis is around 3 to 6 months; 5-year survival is 5%. With 32,180 new diagnoses in the United States every year, and 31,800 deaths, mortality approaches 99%, giving pancreatic cancer the #1 fatality rate of all cancers and the #4 cancer killer in the United States amongst both men and women.

Pancreatic cancer occasionally may result in diabetes. The insulin production is hampered and it has been suggested that the cancer can also prompt the onset of diabetes and vice versa.