Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths, and its incidence is steadily increasing. Over 95% of pancreatic cancers are pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, with previous studies showing a rising incidence among younger adults, particularly young women, while remaining stable in men.
Doctors from the Therapeutic Clinic (Alexandra Hospital) of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, including Dr Maria Kaparelou (Pathologist-Oncologist), Theodora Psaltopoulou (Pathologist, Professor of Therapeutics-Epidemiology-Preventive Medicine), and Thanos Dimopoulos (former Rector of the University of Athens, Professor of Therapeutics-Oncology-Haematology, and Director of the Therapeutic Clinic), highlight findings from a recent analysis of pancreatic cancer data among young adults (aged 15-39).
The analysis found that while the incidence of pancreatic cancer is rising, mortality rates remain stable. According to Patel et al., whose findings were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the increase in incidence mainly concerns early-stage endocrine tumours rather than aggressive adenocarcinomas. This trend is likely due to advancements in diagnostic techniques that detect small, slow-growing tumours. However, stable mortality rates suggest there is no significant increase in aggressive cancer cases.
The study revealed that pancreatic cancer incidence increased more among young women, although mortality rates remained stable for both sexes. The analysis also indicated that the rise in early-stage pancreatic cancers increased from 0.6 to 3.7 per million women and from 0.4 to 2.2 per million men. The incidence of small tumours (under 2 cm) grew eightfold in women and threefold in men. There was no statistically significant change in the incidence of advanced-stage cancer in either sex.
Despite the rise in diagnoses, stable mortality rates suggest that tumours now being detected would previously have gone unnoticed. This trend reflects improvements in diagnostic practices rather than a genuine increase in cases. The study cautions that many of these small tumours may be non-aggressive and that overdiagnosis could lead to overtreatment of tumours that might never have caused harm to patients.
The research emphasises the importance of avoiding overdiagnosis, which could result in unnecessary treatments.
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Source: ANA-MPA
