ABSTRACT
Pancreatic cancer is the thirteenth most common cancer, with 200,000 new cases per year and an annual incidence rate of 8-12 per 100,000 worldwide. Risk factors for pancreatic cancer include cigarette smoking; obesity; alcohol; coffee; high fat, high protein, low fiber diet; chronic pancreatitis; diabetes mellitus; and syndromic familial pancreatic cancer. Differential diagnoses for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cancer include pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, pancreatitis, pancreatic atrophy, pancreatic lipomatosis, and pseudopancreatitis. Precursor lesions for PDAC include pancreatic intra epithelial neoplasia (PanIN), mucinous cystic neoplasm (MCN), and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMN). Being resistant to treatment with chemotherapy and radiation, pancreatic tumor symptoms may be relieved with palliative measures, which improve quality of life but not overall survival. Exocrine pancreatic cancer is rarely curable, with a median survival time of 6 months after diagnosis, and a mortality rate of 95"-98" after 1 year.
