This month for our "Rare Diseases" topic we're going to discuss pancreatic cancer (PC). While not as unheard of as other conditions that we'll be covering, this cancer is still a relatively rare (thankfully) diagnosis. There have been some high profile people diagnosed with PC in the past several years, including Patrick Swayze, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Steve Jobs. However, compared to lung cancer which has over 200,000 new cases per year, PC rates are closer to 40,000 per year. Snapshot: Pancreatic cancer is a rare but comes with a poor prognosis for most people who receive the diagnosis. Men are 30% more likely to get PC than women, and it is most common over the age of 60 (under 40 is rare). PC is the 4th leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. One-year survival rates are approximately 25%; however 80% of people living with PC are diagnosed late, after the cancer has advanced or metastasized (moved to other part
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