The month of November brings pancreatic cancer into focus, it’s time to increase public understanding of the disease, including its prevalence, approaches to screening and prevention, treatment options, and resources that offer updated pancreatic cancer information throughout the year. In particular, 13th November 2014 will see the first ever World Pancreatic Cancer Day take place. An annual World Pancreatic Cancer Day will help to bring about a much needed change in awareness levels about the disease.

Pancreatic cancer has in fact one of the lowest survival rates of any cancer, although new data showed a slight improvement in the 5-year survival rates. This is because pancreatic cancer is inherently an aggressive disease, and it is often detected at an advanced stage when it is difficult to treat, highlighting the importance of research on prevention and early detection.

Results from recent international polls cited global awareness of pancreatic cancer as being exceptionally low compared to other cancers despite it being the most deadly form. Most people first learn about it when a family member receives the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Also, the The 5th Worldwide NET Cancer Awareness Day will be held internationally on November 10th. The neuroendocrine tumors (NET) of the pancreas are very rare lesions with frequency of about 3 to 10 per 1.000.000 inhabitants, although their incidence is rapidly growing.

The Verona Pancreas Team will contribute to the campaign publishing on its institutional web channels leaflets on risk factors, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the “tumor that grows silently”, the tumor that we strive to fight each and every day.

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