Pancreatic cancer: mortality rate has increased across Europe

Pancreatic cancer death rates have increased by 5% between 1990 and 2016 within the European Union. This is the largest increase in the five deadliest cancers in this geographic area. We are talking here about pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer.

The lowest survival rate

While lung, breast, colon and rectal cancers have seen significant declines in mortality rates since 1990, deaths from pancreatic cancer continue to rise. Pancreatic cancer is now the third leading cause of death in the European Union, ahead of breast cancer.

Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of all cancers. Responsible for more than 95,000 European deaths each year, the median survival time at diagnosis is just 4.6 months. Only 2% of survivors will be able to continue to live in good health. Symptoms of pancreatic cancer are difficult to identify. As a result, early diagnoses, which give patients a better chance of recovering without harm, are all too rarely established.

2% of all research funds

Despite all these alarming data, pancreatic cancer receives less than 2% of all cancer research funding in Europe. “To provide earlier diagnoses and improved treatments, we need to engage in more basic research now to see real progress for our patients in the years to come,” said gastroenterologist Markus Peck.

Especially since new discoveries give hope. Currently, researchers are studying, for example, how modifying the microbiome of the pancreas can help slow tumor growth and allow the body to develop its own defense mechanism. Removing bacteria from the gut and pancreas slows cancer growth and “reprograms” immune cells to react against them.

“Research into the impact of the microbiome on pancreatic cancer is a particularly exciting new area, as the pancreas was previously considered a sterile organ,” concludes pancreatic cancer specialist Professor Thomas Seufferlein.