Your Disease Risk Quiz: Pancreatic Cancer

Your Disease Risk, located on Siteman Cancer Centers website, is an interactive quiz which roughly estimates your risk of cancer by asking specific questions about your lifestyle. These questions include gender, age, family history, eating and exercise habits, height/weight, and other activities such as smoking or drug use. Using these criteria, the Your Disease Risk website determines your risk for specific diseases such as various types of cancer, heart diseas, osteoporosis or stroke.

Once on the website, the user can select a disease risk questionnaire for various types of cancers such as breast, cervical, pancreatic, prostate and stomach cancers.

It is not intended as medical advice, but cites prevention guidelines. These guidelines include recommendations for exercise, smoking cessation tips and healthy eating strategies. The questionnaire only takes a few minutes to complete, and a health risk bar graph is compiled from responses. The responses are grouped into risk categories: below average, average, and above average risk.

Give the quiz a try. It is worth knowing. I completed the pancreatic cancer quiz and it was determined that I have a below average risk for contracting pancreatic cancer.

Source: Siteman Cancer Center: Barnes Jewish Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine

http://www.yourdiseaserisk.wustl.edu/hccpquiz.pl?lang=english&func=home&page=cancer_index

Cancer Care Support Groups

Cancercare.org is an online cancer support website for various individuals. This website has support resources for patients, caregivers and or family members as well medical professionals. On this website, there is a specific section for the bereaved.

These support services include telephone and online cancer support, face to face support ( New Jersey and New York City area) and printed materials for anyone that requests services. Telephone support services are administered by oncology social workers and are presented on a variety of cancers. Specialized services include support for children with cancer, patients with rare cancers, and end of life services.

On the Cancercare Website, there is a specific webpage for pancreatic cancer. This page states the available support services available for anyone affected by pancreatic cancer.

Source: CancerCare.org
http://www.cancercare.org/get_help/help_by_diagnosis/diagnosis.php?diagnosis=pancreatic

Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research PSA

The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research has filmed a new Public Service Announcement with former President Jimmy Carter. In this Public Service Announcement, President Carter speaks about how his family was affected by pancreatic cancer. President Carter also speaks about how the Lustgarten Foundation has been researching specific pancreatic cancer genes.

To view the public service announcement and to see information the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research has compiled, please visit thier website at http://www.lustgarten.org/.

To view the public service announcement, please click on the following link

Source: The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research Website

http://www.lustgarten.org./LUS/Content/CDA/ArticlesDetail.jsp?ContentId=448

Confronting Death- Oprah Winfrey Show October 22, 2007

The October 22, 2007 Oprah Winfrey Show featured a segment titled "Confronting Death". This segment featured Randy Pausch, a Computer Sciences professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer over one year ago. Just recently, Pausch was given only a few months to live.

His final lecture was given in September 2007 to Carnegie Mellon students. This lecture has been downloaded over over one million times online. Pausch stated the original audience for this lecture were his three small children. It is definetely a very moving lecture which has some very practical advice for anyone.


Source: Oprah Winfrey Show Website
http://www2.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200710/tows_past_20071022.jhtml

Risk Factors for Pancreatic Cancer

I wanted to alert readers of the risk factors for pancreatic cancer. Various pancreatic cancer risk factors are preventable--but some are inherent.

According to Cnn.com Health website, here are the following risk factors for pancreatic cancer.

Risk factors
The vast majority of pancreatic cancers occur in people older than 65. Other important risk factors include:

Race. Black men and women have a higher risk of pancreatic cancer.

Sex. More men than women develop pancreatic cancer.

Cigarette smoking. If you smoke, you're two to three times more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than nonsmokers are. This is probably the greatest known risk factor for pancreatic cancer, with smoking associated with almost one in three cases of pancreatic cancer.

Abnormal glucose metabolism. Having diabetes may increase your risk of pancreatic cancer. Insulin resistance or high insulin levels may also be risk factors for pancreatic cancer.

Hereditary pancreatitis. Your chances of developing pancreatic cancer increase if you have hereditary chronic pancreatitis. Hereditary pancreatitis (HP) is a rare genetic condition marked by recurrent attacks of pancreatitis — a painful inflammation of your pancreas.

Excess weight. People who are very overweight or obese may have a greater risk of developing pancreatic cancer than do people of normal weight.

Diet. A diet high in animal fat and low in fruits and vegetables may increase your risk of pancreatic cancer.

Chemical exposure. People who work with petroleum compounds, including gasoline and other chemicals, have a higher incidence of pancreatic cancer than people not exposed to these chemicals.

Source: Cnn.com Health library April 12, 2006 http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00357.html

Well, looking at this list I have to be candid and say I am not suprised of my grandmother's diagnosis.

She is older than 65, has a history of diabetes and has excess weight. Her diet is low in fruits and vegetables and high in animal fat. She was also a smoker. Finally, her previous employment was in manufacturing plants and she was exposed to chemicals.

Thomas Jefferson Hospital-Advances in Pancreatic Cancer Care

I found a replay of a live webevent sponsored by Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia. This replay shows a mini-Whipple procedure being performed. This mini-Whipple procedure webcast also features a panel discussion by the Jefferson Pancreatic Cancer and Related Diseases medical team. This webcast was originally broadcast on September 18, 2007.

This is interesting if your medical team has recommended this surgery for you. The ability to view the procedure and the panelist discussion enables the patient to make an informed care decision.


This link to the original webcast is found on Thomas Jefferson University Hospital website.

WARNING: This is a webcast of an operating room procedure. This material may be considered graphic.

Source: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

http://www.or-live.com/jeffersonhospital/1857/

Pancreatic Cancer-- Steve Jobs, Apple Computer CEO

In order for this blog to seem less research based and clinical , I wanted to show individuals that have been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Steve Jobs, Apple Computer CEO was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer approximately three years ago. In September 2004, Jobs underwent surgery for an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor, which is a rare form of pancreatic cancer.



Here is an excerpt from a cbsnews.com report regarding information that was sent to Apple computer employees regarding his illness-

"In an e-mail message to employees released by Apple, he said he will be off to recuperate during August and expects to return to work in September. The message did not specify where Jobs underwent the surgery. He identified his cancer as an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor, which he described as rare and said could be cured by surgical removal if diagnosed early. He said his was caught early and would require no chemotherapy or radiation treatment. A far more deadly - and common form - of pancreatic cancer is adenocarcinoma, he said. "I mention this because when one hears 'pancreatic cancer' (or Googles it), one immediately encounters this far more common and deadly form, which, thank God, is not what I had," he said in the message."

Source: CBS News.com
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/02/tech/main633335.shtml