Pancreatic cancer charities across the UK will be launching their first Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Week, taking place from the 16th to 22nd November 2009.
The Awareness Week and its ‘Change the Numbers’ campaign have been designed to increase knowledge and understanding about pancreatic cancer, which can be hard to detect. Despite being the 5th largest cause of cancer deaths in the UK few have heard about it. This silent nature has meant that research into diagnosis, treatment, service provision and patient support has gone under-funded for many years.
Only around 1% of cancer funding goes towards pancreatic cancer. As a result, there has been very little improvement in the overall survival rate for the last 40 years with 5 year survival just a dismal 3%. UK pancreatic cancer charities believe that the time has come for these numbers to change. They are now urging people to spread the word about the importance of further research into pancreatic cancer as part of the November awareness week.
Abnormal, uncontrolled cell division resulting in a malignant tumour that may invade surrounding tissues or spread to distant parts of the body.
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The process of determining which condition a patient may have.
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Relating to the pancreas.
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