Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Historical introduction
- PART I Epidemiological methods
- PART II Causative factors in human cancer
- PART III Legal and ethical considerations
- PART IV Introduction: total and specific site epidemiology
- PART V Buccal cavity
- PART VI Digestive system
- 25 Esophagus
- 26 Stomach
- 27 Small intestine
- 28 Large intestine: colon and rectum
- 29 Liver
- 30 Gall bladder and extrahepatic biliary ducts
- 31 Pancreas
- PART VII Respiratory system
- PART VIII Bone and soft tissue
- PART IX Skin
- PART X Breast and genitourinary system
- PART XI Eye and nervous system
- PART XII Thyroid and other endocrine glands, lymphoid and hematopoietic system
- PART XIII Cancers in children and multiple primary cancers
- Conclusions
- Appendix 1 Cancer statistics
- Appendix 2 A glossary of epidemiological terms
- Appendix 3 Acronyms and abbreviations
- Supplement
- Index
31 - Pancreas
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Historical introduction
- PART I Epidemiological methods
- PART II Causative factors in human cancer
- PART III Legal and ethical considerations
- PART IV Introduction: total and specific site epidemiology
- PART V Buccal cavity
- PART VI Digestive system
- 25 Esophagus
- 26 Stomach
- 27 Small intestine
- 28 Large intestine: colon and rectum
- 29 Liver
- 30 Gall bladder and extrahepatic biliary ducts
- 31 Pancreas
- PART VII Respiratory system
- PART VIII Bone and soft tissue
- PART IX Skin
- PART X Breast and genitourinary system
- PART XI Eye and nervous system
- PART XII Thyroid and other endocrine glands, lymphoid and hematopoietic system
- PART XIII Cancers in children and multiple primary cancers
- Conclusions
- Appendix 1 Cancer statistics
- Appendix 2 A glossary of epidemiological terms
- Appendix 3 Acronyms and abbreviations
- Supplement
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is the fifteenth most common cancer in the world, and is more frequent in developed, than in developing, countries. Tobacco is the most important etiological factor so far identified.
Histology, classification and diagnosis
Tumors of the pancreas can be divided into common adenocarcinomas and infrequent islet cell tumors of the endocrine pancreas. Many pancreatic tumors were formerly attributed to the gastro-intestinal tract or the liver, which may partly explain the reported incidence rise since 1950.
Descriptive epidemiology
Incidence
The incidence and distribution of adenocarcinomas has been reviewed by Mack (1982). Geographic variations are not as great as for other gastrointestinal cancers. Among males, high rates (over 10) are seen in American blacks, Maoris in New Zealand, and in some European countries; intermediate rates (over 4) in whites in North America, the rest of Europe, Australia, Japan, China, Israel and in most South American countries; and low rates (less than 4) in Africa, India and some South American countries (Figure 31.1). (The rate in male Koreans in Los Angeles is based on 11 cases.) In the USA, rates are higher in blacks than in whites, but are relatively low in Seventh Day Adventists and Mormons. A consistent association with social class has not been observed. Higher frequencies in urban than in rural areas may be a diagnostic artefact.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Human CancerEpidemiology and Environmental Causes, pp. 315 - 320Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1992
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