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News
2013
- Author: Admin
- Category: In the news
Dr Nick Maisey, our gastro-intestinal consultant oncologist at Indepdendent Oncology is quoted in the Huffington Post this month, talking about the signs and treatment of pancreatic cancer. November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month which aims to highlight the importance of recognising the signs of this often hard to detect cancer type before it becomes too advanced.
All the experts acknowledge that it is really tricky cancer to diagnose.
Dr Nick Maisey, consultant oncologist at London Bridge Hospital & Blackheath Hospital says: “It is very common that patients have incurable ‘metastatic’ disease (ie secondaries) already by the time the diagnosis is established, because the symptoms can often be very vague, e.g. weight loss, loss of appetite, mild abdominal pain. Approximately 80 to 90% of new cases have inoperable disease.
“Sadly the life-expectancy even with chemotherapy is less than a year, although recent clinical trials have shown some marginal improvements in prognosis with newer drugs. If the cancer is diagnosed at an early enough stage to be deemed ‘operable’ the majority of patients will still relapse, despite having gone through surgery and often chemotherapy as well. On average the chance of long-term cure following surgery is around 25 to 30%.”
Read the full article here and find out more about the symptoms to look out for here www.huffingtonpost 
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