DEAR DR. GOTT: My husband’s parents both died of pancreatic cancer. Is there any test my husband and his siblings could get during their regular checkups to screen for this cancer?
DEAR READER: Pancreatic cancer is a quiet, fast-spreading disease. According to the National Cancer Institute, in 2010, about 43,000 people will be diagnosed and just under 6,000 will survive. Often, symptoms are not present until very late, when it has spread to other areas and surgical removal is impossible. Those who are diagnosed early have about a 22.5 percent five-year survival rate compared to those with late-stage disease at the time of diagnosis who have a less than 2 percent five-year survival.
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