Pancreatic cancer is a very serious disease that claims over 95 percent of its victims. For this reason extensive pancreatic research is being done by the medical community to try to get more information on how to both cure and prevent this devastating disease. The forms of pancreatic cancer research include: determining how the disease originates in the first place, figuring out how to eliminate the disease once it starts and acquisition of statistical data to analyze who is more likely to get the disease and how they deal with it.
The first area of pancreatic cancer research is in regards to studying how the disease starts in the first place. This current body of pancreatic cancer research has not allowed scientists to come to any ‘official’ conclusions. From what they know so far, they believe pancreatic cancer is due to damaged DNA. What is DNA? It is simply the genetic substances which help provide a blueprint for how chemical processes should proceed in the body. If something is wrong with the DNA the instructions become tainted, which could result in pancreatic cancer as well as other problems. To specify things further in layman’s terms, if there is an issue with DNA, that means that pancreatic cancer could have a genetic component to it.
However, pancreatic cancer research has much farther to go before it can make such a theory a fact. The second area of pancreatic cancer research refers to determining ways of eliminating the condition. This form of pancreatic cancer research can be divided into two categories. The first category involves conducting research on already-established pancreatic cancer therapies. This includes further conducting more studies in how to better pancreatic cancer surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The second category of this form of pancreatic research is studying the effects of unconventional, yet still ‘medically-acceptable’ forms of alternative treatment. An example is mistletoe treatment, a plant that has been discovered to have properties that can help fight pancreatic cancer.
Finally, there is the body of pancreatic cancer research that is more statistical. Researchers and statisticians embarking in this type of pancreatic cancer research try to get answers by studying who is already suffering with the disease. Currently, such research has revealed that African Americans are more likely to get the disease, at least in the United States. It has also revealed that individuals who are more likely to beat the disease tend to have their tumors limited to just the pancreas. In these situations they become treated through surgical intervention, where the pancreas and parts of the surrounding organs get removed.
What can individuals do to help further propel pancreatic cancer research? If they have money they can give, they definitely can consider helping financially. They can also help by participating in clinical trials, (provided that they have pancreatic cancer). Through a clinical trial, a person is given whatever drug is suspected of being the next cure for pancreatic cancer. However, there is are no guarantees the drug or therapy would work… it may even cause harm to the person. In hopes of preventing such things, most clinical trials will keep a medical eye on its participants.
