Science Friday Podcast Recap: The Lineup of Cancer Threats Is Changing

Though lung cancer is currently and shall most likely continue to be the leading cause of death by cancer in the United States, a recent report projected that by 2030, pancreatic cancer will be only a few paces behind lung cancer in that category. This may have something to do with the frequent late diagnoses that are characteristic of this type of cancer. According to a member of the American Cancer Society, pancreatic cancer currently is the fourth leading cause of death in men and also the fourth leading cause of death in women. Despite this, he says that the reason that pancreatic cancer is not discussed nearly as much as breast cancer and prostate cancer is because this cancer generates very few survivors. Also, the late diagnoses of this disease he affirmed to be part of the reason why it is so deadly, while its fatality also results from the fact that it is a type of cancer more prone to spreading and thus eliminating surgery as an option for treatment. This deadly cancer is, most unfortunately, likely to gain steam over the course of the next few decades.