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Pancreatic Cancer Risk Higher In Newly Diagnosed
Diabetes Patients 50 And Older
Aug. 1, 2005 The onset of hyperglycemic diabetes
in adults age 50 or older may be a signal of underlying pancreatic
cancer. The risk of developing the deadly cancer within three years
after a new diagnosis of diabetes is eight times higher than for the
average same-age individual (1 in 120), according to researchers at the
May Clinic Cancer Center. For years, there has been controversy over
whether type 2 diabetes predisposes people to pancreatic cancer or if
diabetes is an indicator of underlying pancreatic cancer. This is the
first study to evaluate the importance of using age at diabetes
diagnosis as an indicator for pancreatic cancer and suggests a new
population to be tested for pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth-leading cancer
killer in the United States and it is estimated that nearly 32,000
people will die in 2005 from the disease. Most often, the disease does
not present symptoms and is usually detected in advanced stages. Only 23
percent of patients with pancreatic cancer survive more than a year
after diagnosis and 4 percent survive for five years.
Older Americans are at the greatest risk for
developing pancreatic cancer--almost all patients are over the age of
50. In addition, pancreatic cancer is more common in people with
diabetes, with the greatest risk existing in the first five years after
diagnosis. According to the American Diabetes Association, more than 18
percent of the U.S. population over the age of 60 has diabetes.
Patients with this type of cancer seldom exhibit
disease-specific symptoms until the cancer is at an advanced stage, and
two major obstacles prevent physicians from making an early diagnosis.
First is the lack of a high-risk group a
population of individuals, other than rare genetic disorders, in whom
pancreatic cancer is common; and second is a lack of a PSA-like blood
test for pancreatic cancer. Suresh Chari, M.D and his team's study shows
that new-onset diabetes defines a high-risk group for pancreatic cancer.
The researchers say this
is a groundbreaking finding. The study is published in today's issue of Gastroenterology.
"Pancreatic cancer is difficult to detect until it
is in an advanced stage, leaving little hope for patients," says Dr.
Chari, Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist and lead investigator of the
study. "This study is important, because it leads us closer to finding
indicators that will allow earlier detection and treatment."
Pancreatic cancer is a deadly disease nearly all
patients die that claims 32,000 lives in the United States each year
and has an equal number of diagnoses annually.
"Our goal now is to identify a marker in the blood
that will enable us to distinguish diabetes associated with pancreatic
cancer from the far more common type 2 diabetes," said Dr. Chari, "so we
are able to screen patients with new-onset diabetes to detect pancreatic
cancer before it spreads."
We hope that our research leads to additional
studies confirming that older people with newly diagnosed diabetes
should be checked for pancreatic cancer," said Chari.
While the study showed that about 1 percent of
patients who met fairly stringent criteria for diabetes developed
pancreatic cancer within three years, in most patients the cancer was at
an advanced stage at diagnosis.
Because patients in this study had not been
screened for diabetes or pancreatic cancer, Dr. Chari's team was looking
at those diagnosed after the fact.
The study population of 2,122 patients was drawn
from the Rochester Epidemiology Project and included all residents age
50 or older of Rochester, Minn., between 1950 and 1995. Comparison to
the general populace was made using data from the Iowa Surveillance,
Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program.
About the study
In addition to Dr. Chari, members of the Mayo
Clinic research team included Cynthia Leibson, Ph.D.; Kari Rabe; Jeanine
Ransom; Mariza de Andrade, Ph.D.; and Gloria Petersen, Ph.D.
The National Cancer Institute funded this study
with additional support from SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals.
More information
For more information on the pancreatic cancer
program at Mayo Clinic,
click here.
More information on pancreatic cancer is also
available at
www.gastro.org.
For the FDA site on diabetes
Click Here
About the AGA
The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA)
is dedicated to the mission of advancing the science and practice of
gastroenterology. Founded in 1897, the AGA is the oldest
medical-specialty society in the United States. The AGA's 14,500 members
include physicians and scientists who research, diagnose and treat
disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and liver. On a monthly basis,
the AGA publishes two highly respected journals, Gastroenterology and
Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. The AGA's annual meeting is
Digestive Disease Week, which is held each May and is the largest
international gathering of physicians, researchers and academics in the
fields of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal
surgery.
About Gastroenterology
Gastroenterology, the official journal of the AGA,
is the most prominent journal in the subspecialty and is in the top one
percent of indexed medical journals internationally. The journal
publishes clinical and basic studies of all aspects of the digestive
system, including the liver and pancreas, as well as nutrition. The
journal is abstracted and indexed in Biological Abstracts, CABS,
Chemical Abstracts, Current Contents, Excerpta Medica, Index Medicus,
Nutrition Abstracts and Science Citation Index. For more information,
visit
www.gastrojournal.org.
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