Title: A study on search for risk factors of pancreatic cancer
Abstract: Masaki Yamakawa, Takuji Yamao. Department of Medicine, Nagasaki Municipal Hospital, Nagasaki, Japan. Yohei Mizuta, Hiroshi Souda, Shigeru Kohno. Second Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan. Ikuo Murata. Department of Pharmacotherapeutics, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan SUIZOU 2003;18(4):479–488. We reviewed the clinical features and survival rates of 187 patients with pancreatic cancer (males, 104; females, 83, mean age, 70.7 years), who had been admitted to our institutes between January 1996 and July 2001, to identify the risk factors for pancreatic cancer and factors for improving prognosis. The patients had very poor prognosis with a median survival time of 164 days, and only 50 (29.4%) patients underwent surgery. Prognosis was significantly better in patients of Stage I and II as well as asymptomatic patients, than those with more advanced stage and symptomatic patients. We evaluated the clinical features, laboratory data, and radiological and ultrasonographic findings. The results showed that for improvement of prognosis, it was important to find pancreatic cancer patients with Stage I and Stage II disease and asymptomatic patients by focusing on several clinical features. Association of diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance, tumor markers, and imaging studies may contribute to the detection of early-stage pancreatic ancer.