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Yes, this kind of cancer is brutally fast. My father died less than a year from the diagnosis. The only real symptoms appeared 2-3 months before doctors even c

Yes, this kind of cancer is brutally fast. My father died less than a year from the diagnosis. The only real symptoms appeared 2-3 months before doctors even considered cancer. The tumor was sneakily sandwiched between different organs, on the tail of pancreas. As far as I know (from Polish oncologists) it was basically undetectable early enough to fight successfully. And it was probably developing for 15-20 years before. I would really love to be able to easily check my pancreas for any unhealthy changes as the inherited risk is pretty high.

petercooper 9y ago
I would really love to be able to easily check my pancreas for any unhealthy changes as the inherited risk is pretty high. That sounds good, but it would be necessary to do this in a way where problems with only a low risk would not be highlighted. For example, to avoid a brain aneurysm, you might opt to be scanned on a frequent basis. Except what happens if they find a blood vessel with a 1% annual chance of rupture but the fatality rate of an operation to reduce the risk is, say, 10%? This places most people into a very difficult situation where the difficulty of having a 1% annual risk of rupture is hard to balance against the 10% chance. This is just one reason why proactive screening is not done in otherwise healthy subjects.
- nerdponx 9y ago
  That doesn't make sense to me. What if that 1% chance suddenly turns into a 50% chance? If I suddenly present with symptoms of a risky aneurism, wouldn't having that "1% chance, last we checked" on my medical history help accelerate the correct diagnosis and treatment?
  - petercooper 9y ago
    That's a great point, but then someone might be so panicked they take the more dangerous "fix" than just sit out the risk. I know I would totally obsess over it if I knew about that minor risk, for example. But this is why everyone should get the option, perhaps.
    - nerdponx 9y ago
      Isn't this the doctor's responsibility to say "I will not do this procedure because the risk is too great", then? A friend of mine was in a similar scenario recently. He was tempted to do an aggressive and risky surgery to treat a chronic condition, out of sheer frustration. I couldn't talk him down. It was only once the surgeon said "I can't look you in the eye and tell you that this will be worth it" that he reconsidered.

petercooper 9y ago

I would really love to be able to easily check my pancreas for any unhealthy changes as the inherited risk is pretty high. That sounds good, but it would be necessary to do this in a way where problems with only a low risk would not be highlighted. For example, to avoid a brain aneurysm, you might opt to be scanned on a frequent basis. Except what happens if they find a blood vessel with a 1% annual chance of rupture but the fatality rate of an operation to reduce the risk is, say, 10%? This places most people into a very difficult situation where the difficulty of having a 1% annual risk of rupture is hard to balance against the 10% chance. This is just one reason why proactive screening is not done in otherwise healthy subjects.

nerdponx 9y ago
That doesn't make sense to me. What if that 1% chance suddenly turns into a 50% chance? If I suddenly present with symptoms of a risky aneurism, wouldn't having that "1% chance, last we checked" on my medical history help accelerate the correct diagnosis and treatment?
- petercooper 9y ago
  That's a great point, but then someone might be so panicked they take the more dangerous "fix" than just sit out the risk. I know I would totally obsess over it if I knew about that minor risk, for example. But this is why everyone should get the option, perhaps.
  - nerdponx 9y ago
    Isn't this the doctor's responsibility to say "I will not do this procedure because the risk is too great", then? A friend of mine was in a similar scenario recently. He was tempted to do an aggressive and risky surgery to treat a chronic condition, out of sheer frustration. I couldn't talk him down. It was only once the surgeon said "I can't look you in the eye and tell you that this will be worth it" that he reconsidered.