The death of Steve Jobs last week added yet another name to the list of celebrities who have died from pancreatic cancer, a stellar group which includes Patrick Swayze, Michael Landon, Luciano Pavarotti, and Jack Benny. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States and has the highest mortality rate of all cancers, killing 95 percent of its victims, according to the American Cancer Society.
"It's a dismal, deadly disease," surgical oncologist Dr. Robert Wascher, M.D., tells Newsmax Health. "But like other forms of cancer, up to 65 percent can be prevented by relatively modest diet and lifestyle changes," says Wascher, author of "A Cancer Prevention Guide for the Human Race."
Special: These U.S. Doctors Are Quietly Curing Cancer
One simple preventative step is to take the spice turmeric, which is a strong cancer fighter, says Wascher.
Steve Jobs lived for seven years after he announced he was suffering from pancreatic cancer. Most victims aren't nearly so fortunate and often live less than a year after their diagnosis. But Jobs had a rare type of pancreatic cancer called neuroendocrine. "Only 5 to 8 percent of pancreatic cancers are this type, and its biology is different from the more common garden variety called adenocarcinoma that most people get," says Wascher. "The form Jobs had is less aggressive and patients tend to live longer."
One reason for the poor survival statistics -- it kills more than 37,000 Americans a year -- is that pancreatic cancer usually causes no symptoms until it is advanced and has metastasized to other organs. The fortunate few who survive, including Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, are diagnosed early, when the disease is treatable by surgery — and usually as a result of a CT scan or MRI conducted for another reason.
Treatment options are few, says Wascher: "The only cure comes with very radical surgery. No one is cured by chemotherapy or radiation without surgery. If pancreatic tumors can't be removed surgically, they tend to be quite resistant to chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
"Conventional medical and surgical procedures obviously do not cure pancreatic cancer for the vast majority of patients," he says. "So, I think it's reasonable to be a little more open-minded about complementary and alternative therapies when you have tried conventional therapies and have no other options. Both laboratory and clinical studies suggest there are some nutritional therapies that might have an effect on pancreatic cancer."
