Steve Jobs has just died of pancreatic cancer, the same disease that ended the life of the last Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, Ralph M. Steinman. Despite being one of the least frequent, this cancer is also one of the deadliest due to its late diagnosis, being the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. We explain what its main risk factors are, as well as the treatments
The pancreas is an essential organ of the digestive system. In it, basic enzymes are produced for the digestion of food and its subsequent assimilation and use. However, the most famous function of this organ is to regulate the amount of glucose in the blood through insulin, the lack of which causes diabetes.
Pancreatic cancer, like other types of cancer, consists of the uncontrolled growth of cells in said organ, which causes an alteration in its functioning. Its causes are not very specific and are mainly associated with food. For example, several studies have shown the importance of alcohol consumption and diets rich in animal fats, proteins and different types of sugars in the development of the disease. However, as explained by the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology , “The results of studies that have evaluated the relationship between coffee and alcohol consumption with pancreatic cancer show contradictory results.”
Likewise, tobacco is one of the main causes of this type of ailment, smokers having a greater risk of developing it than those who do not smoke. As explained by this same organization, ” approximately 30% of cases of pancreatic tumors are considered associated with tobacco . Some studies have shown the relationship between the dose and duration of smoking with the incidence of pancreatic cancer.”
A single treatment for pancreatic cancer
Like all tumors, those that develop in the pancreas can be malignant or benign. If it is benign, the disease can be removed and controlled. If it is malignant, the situation is much more serious, since it has the ability to invade other tissues and release tumor cells into the blood. Currently, the only viable treatment for this tumor is surgery and, even so, ” only 5-25 percent of pancreatic tumors will be candidates to be resected at diagnosis, ” they explain from the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology.
Some 78,000 cases are diagnosed each year in Europe, more than double the number in the United States, where 32,000 new tumors are announced every 12 months. At the national level, in Spain, each year about 4,500 people die from this disease and, after the diagnosis, only five percent survive more than five years.
Steve Jobs and Ralph M. Steinman have joined the long list of victims that this deadly cancer has taken away. Perhaps in the not too distant future a way will be found to cure this ailment. However, today, not even the most powerful or the most intelligent are spared the scythe of death that pancreatic cancer supposes.
