Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection Registry

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in both men and women in the United States. In 2015, there were 49,000 new diagnoses with 41,000 deaths . A recent analysis of the pedigrees in the National Familial Pancreatic Tumor Registry found that individuals with a family history of pancreatic cancer in first-degree relatives are at an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer themselves. There are more than a dozen inherited germline mutations that increase the risk of pancreatic cancer in these family members. In an attempt to lower the number of individuals that develop advanced pancreatic cancer, an early-detection program is created to detect tumors at a stage early enough that treatment is likely to be successful. Numerous treatment options exist such as surveillance, radiation therapy, systemic therapy and surgery. Determining which treatment option will be implemented is based on the stage and grade of the tumor/cancer.