Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Week

UK Pancreatic Cancer charities have teamed up to launch the first national Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Week (16 to 22 November).

During this week, the charities will be organising events to raise awareness about pancreatic cancer, the 5th most common cause of cancer in the UK.

Unlike many other cancers such as breast, prostate and testicular cancer, there has been no improvement in the overall survival rate from this "silent killer" in the last 40 years.

Each year, over 7,500 people in the UK are diagnosed with the disease and over 6,500 die of it. Of the most common cancers, it has the worst survival rate, as only 3% of those diagnosed are alive after five years.

Part of the reason for this is there are very few, if any, symptoms in the early stages of disease. And the later symptoms of pancreatic cancer are usually vague and non-specific. Because the symptoms generally don't appear until the disease is in its advanced stages, the average survival time after diagnosis is a mere six months.

To date, there is no test to detect the cancer in it's early stages and treatment is limited.

The awareness week is aiming to make the UK public more aware of the deadly killer and generate funding for research into new ways to detect and treat the disease.

Ross Carter of the Pancreatic Society said: “We need to increase awareness of pancreatic cancer to raise the profile of this disease as many of the general public, patients and doctors are unaware that it is the 5th commonest cause of cancer death in the UK, killing nearly 7000 people annually.

"The Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Week 2009 is the first venture where the various pancreatic cancer charities and clinical community have come together to highlight the key issues that have been retarding progress, so that the harsh reality of the statistics facing patients faced with a pancreatic cancer diagnosis are improved in the near future.”

Maggie Blanks from the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund added: “Many people have never heard of pancreatic cancer. When they learn more about it, they are shocked at the 3% survival rate and lack of improvement in it.

"Increased awareness and investment in research has made significant progress possible in fighting other types of cancer – saving many lives. That’s what we want for pancreatic cancer patients. This Awareness Week provides a focus for people to help make that happen.”

This article was published on Mon 16 November 2009