pancreatic cancers are on the rise

Pancreatic cancer, with 14,000 cases each year, is becoming the third leading cause of cancer death. It records an increase of 2.6% in men, and 3.2% in women, while the other cancers are rather stable. “There are known risk factors: smoking, overweight, obesity, and of course genetic predispositions”indicates the journalist and doctor Damien Mascret, present, Monday, March 13, on the set of 12/13.

Difficult to diagnose

This cancer is difficult to diagnose: 60% are immediately discovered at the metastatic stage, one in three is not operable at the time of diagnosis because it is too extensive. The warning symptoms are otherwise “not very specific“. Among them, loss of appetite, anorexia, weight loss of several kilos, abdominal pain, especially under the sternum, or even jaundice and diabetes. The five-year survival rate is only 11 %.