SCREENING IN GENETICALLY INDUCED PANCREATIC CANCER: AN UPDATE

Genetically Induced Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

It is likely that hereditary factors play a role in 17% or more of pancreatic cancers. Ten percent of patients have a familial history that causes disease. Another 7% who apparently have a history of sporadic pancreatic cancer but carry a genetic mutation that causes the disease [1]. Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death in the United States [2]. Studies from Pakistan have shown that in 1989 it was 0.47% [3]. There was no significant increase over last two decades [4]. It is an aggressive disease that is uniformly fatal [5,6]. Improvements in surgical techniques have not changed the prognosis which still remains poor. As a result, much focus has been placed on the identification and detection of the specific genetic abnormalities that leads to this disease. After identifying these abnormalities, the effected individuals have a chance for curative treatment at early stage. Family history of genetic abnormality is the key to finding the susceptible individuals [7,8]. After highlighting these individuals, any molecular testing can be offered [9].