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Pancreatic cancer is almost always asymptomatic, until far too late for anything but palliative treatment. And it's extremely coagulogenic, so clots are often t
by mirimir 6y ago
Pancreatic cancer is almost always asymptomatic, until far too late for anything but palliative treatment. And it's extremely coagulogenic, so clots are often the initial symptom.
- bitcoinmoney 6y agoWhy not test everyone then?
- mirimir 6y agoI've wondered that myself. And for myself. I gather that it does take several years to go from early cancer cells to a tumor that's visible by MRI. But once there's a visible tumor, progression is much faster. And by the time you're clotting up and experiencing GI symptoms, you already have multiple metastases. But there's no specific blood test, as far as I know. So basically you'd need an annual MRI scan, I suspect. I guess that'd cost too much. Or maybe damage from the x-ray exposures would overall increase risk.
- MiroF 6y agoNo X-ray radiation from MRI - I’d bet it’s the cost thing.
- Gibbon1 6y agoTwo reasons. False positives and the medical interventions that result aren't without risk. Some cancers are just a death sentence. They start out virulent and spread quickly. And are immune to treatment. Detecting them early buys you nothing. Flip side is some cancers progress slowly. Screening tends to catch the slow indolent cancers and miss the nasty ones. But because they progress slowly catching them early may provide not much benefit.