title: Risk determination for pancreatic cancer.
abstract: Pancreatic cancer represents one of the leading causes of cancer related deaths worldwide and constitutes a major public health problem. Despite the advances in diagnosis and treatment, the overall five-year survival remains low, thus leading the focus of medical research towards the identification and modification of potential risk factors. This year, in ASCO Annual Meeting two interesting studies were presented. Ghani et al. (abstract #e15183) sought to investigate the effect of smoking on chemotherapy response in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, while Walker et al. (abstract #4117) presented the results of their study regarding the effect of statin use in the prevention of pancreatic cancer. Both studies concluded to useful results that along with the existing literature may further stimulate medical research towards better recognition of risk factors and the application of this knowledge in the clinical practice.
authors: Oncology Unit, 3rd Department of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Sotiria General Hospital. Athens, Greece. maria_toki@yahoo.com.
authors: Maria I
authors: MI
authors: Toki
authors: Konstantinos N
authors: KN
authors: Syrigos
authors: Muhammad Wasif
authors: MW
authors: Saif
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D002945:Cisplatin