Pancreatic cancer: new strategies available, but long battle ahead

ABSTRACT

With the recent advancement in science some neoplasia, such as certain leukemia, are less lethal, but unfortunately this is not the case with all diseases. The art of diagnosis and treatment of certain tumors is still in a state of dormancy. Pancreatic cancer remains a notoriously difficult disease to treat. Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive tumor and unless complete surgical resection is possible, the disease is fatal. The diagnostic tools currently available usually do not detect early stage of this disease, and therefore most patients have metastasis at the time of diagnosis. Little is know regarding chemoprevention, and pharmacologic and surgical interventions are seldom curative. Thus, efforts to understand the molecular mechanism underlying the development of pancreatic cancer may lead to prevention or a better prognosis. This is an editorial