Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T02:59:24.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

31 - Pancreas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2010

John Higginson
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
Get access

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 Cancer
Epidemiology and Environmental Causes
, pp. 315 - 320
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×