Health leaders will introduce a groundbreaking screening schedule that aims to offer long -awaited hope for those who develop the most deadly cancer of the UK.
Pancreatic cancer – a ‘silent murderer’ investigated because of the subtle symptoms – kommt a little more than 10,000 patients every year, about one dead every hour.
It is usually diagnosed in late stages, because warning signals are easily considered for other problems.
But now general practitioners clinics will contact patients who are supposed to have a high risk of the disease and call them in for urgent tests, in the hope of limiting symptoms.
Those who are considered with the danger of developing the disease are the more than 60s with a recent diagnosis of diabetes or sudden weight loss.
Despite countless breakthroughs for other forms of the disease that help patients live longer, the prospects for patients with pancreatic cancer remain shockingly gloomy.
Only one in 20 of the diagnosis of the disease is expected to live in the next decade, with more than half within three months.
The new NHS pilot, with more than 300 GP practices in England, is intended to find patients in the earliest, most treatable stages of the disease.
Former England football manager Sven-Göran Eriksson died in August last year at the age of 76 after he became terminally ill with pancreatic cancer. The Swedish legend – who said in January last year that he had ‘best business per year’ to live after his diagnosis – was the first overseas boss to led the National Team of England in 2001. Here shown in May 2024
Alan Rickman who played in a large number of blockbusters, including as Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films in 2016 at the age of 69 -of pancreatic cancer in 2016
Health service officials hope that the £ 2 million project, which will be in full swing this fall, will result in at least 300 previous diagnoses.
Currently, only about one in five patients with pancreatic cancer is diagnosed in the early stages of the disease when the treatment has the greatest chance of success.
Medici will specifically search for recent cases of diabetes as a result of data that suggest that about half of the pancreatic cancer patients will be diagnosed with blood sugar disease shortly before they have the disease.
This is because the cancer destroys the same insulin-producing cells in the pancreas that helping blood sugar levels are also destroyed in diabetes.
These patients will be called up for urgent blood tests and medical scans.
If pancreatic cancer is seen early before it spreads throughout the body, about half of the patients will survive for at least a year.
But if cancer has already spread outside the organ – as happens for the majority of patients, only one in 10 patients will survive for a year.
Professor Peter Johnson, NHS National Clinical Director For Cancer, said: ‘Pancreatic cancer is responsible for so many deaths because patients usually do not notice any symptoms until the cancer is in an advanced stage, so we must find new ways to pick it up.
Currently, the majority of the 10,500 people die every year in the UK within three months make the diagnosis of the disease. Part of the problem is that it is often spotted too late. Knowing the subtle early symptoms of pancreatic cancer – including changes in toilet habits – could play a crucial role in stimulating survival, experts say
Pancreatic cancer remains one of the least surviving forms of the disease and is worrying. Source for data: Cancer Research UK
“If your general practitioners identify you as a risk of pancreatic cancer, I will urge you to come forward as quickly as possible for testing.”
Minister of Health Karin Smyth added: “This targeted approach to identify people who run one of the most deadly cancers could give more people a fight opportunity and save the heartache of countless families.”
Alfie Bailey-Bearfield, head of influencing and health improvement at Pancreas Cancer UK, said: ‘Many of the people who are referred during the pilot for a CT scan will not have a pancreatic cancer, but for those who do, the impact can be life-saving.
“Subject to the success of the pilot, we will call that this pilot is being expanded throughout the country to help give more people affected by the deadliest ordinary cancer the very best chance of surviving.”
Previous research has shown that people older than 50 with a new case of type 2 diabetes have a greater chance of being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer within three years.
Although pancreatic cancer is most likely to meet people aged 75 – with 47 percent of all cases in this demographic – younger groups can also get the disease.
Last year, MailOnline emphasized a ‘frightening’ explosion of young women who developed the disease.
The rates of pancreatic cancer have risen by a maximum of 200 percent in women under the age of 25 since the 1990s.
Although figures remain low, oncologists cannot explain the increase in young women, without such a peak in men of the same age.
In general, the incidents of the disease have increased by around 17 percent in Great Britain in the same time span, with rising obesity rates that are probably behind the trend.
A number of celebrity diagnoses in recent years have thrown pancreatic cancer in the spotlight.
Last year, former English manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, 76, died after a fight with the disease.
Other famous victims are legendary actors Patrick Swayze and Alan Rickman, as well as Apple’s iconic founder Steve Jobs and the Smiths basist Andy Rourke.
Potential symptoms of pancreatic cancer include jaundice, where the whites of the eyes and the skin change a yellow shade, in addition to itchy skin and dark urine.
Other possible signs are loss of appetite, unintended weight loss, constipation or bloated feeling.
Although it is unlikely that these symptoms are cancer, it is important that they are checked early by a doctor in case people have more than four weeks in case.
The pancreas is a tad -shaped organ that is part of the digestive system and also plays a crucial role in hormone regulation.
It is just behind the stomach and is approximately 25 cm long.
In his digestive role, it helps to produce enzymes that help the body break down food in the nutrients it needs.
It is also crucial to make hormones responsible for controlling blood sugar levels in the body.
Charity, Cancer Research UK, estimates that 22 percent of the cases of the disease are caused by smoking and 12 percent by obesity.
#GPS #hunt #patients #red #flag #risk #factor #deadly #pancreatic #cancer #list