Simultaneous cancer of the pancreas occurring in husband and wife

Simultaneous presentation of pancreatic cancer in a genetically unrelated couple

Patients with pancreatic cancer tend to have a poor prognosis despite aggressive treatment, and their 5-year overall survival rate remains dismal. Several risk factors could potentially trigger the development of pancreatic cancer but many of them identified so far have been only weakly linked. Occurrence of pancreatic cancer in a husband and wife around the same time in the same household even when exposed to similar environmental factors is rare. Although familial pancreatic cancer is a known entity, pancreatic cancer in genetically unrelated married couples has not been studied. Here we present such a scenario involving one couple. In this case report, we discuss the chronological events leading to pancreatic cancer in a genetically unrelated married couple and the risk factors that may have led to cancer, in addition to exploring the possible links.

Reported family aggregation of pancreatic cancer within a population-based case-control study in the Francophone community in Montreal, Canada

As part of the SEARCH Collaborating Study Group of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a population-based case-control study of cancer of the pancreas was conducted in Montreal, interviewing 179 patients and 179 controls matched for age, sex, and language (French) and selected by a modified random-digit dialing method. Results showed a positive and strong association between cigaret smoking and pancreatic cancer. Total fat, particularly saturated fat, and cholesterol consumption and excess energy derived from fat were associated with positive risk; dietary fiber intake, retinol equivalent, beta-carotene, vitamin C, and calcium showed inverse association with risk. History of such medical conditions as constipation, gallbladder problems, and diabetes was also found to be associated with risk. More important, 7.8% of the pancreatic cancer patients reported a positive family history of the same disease, as compared with 0.6% among controls, a 13-fold difference between cases and controls. Within the original case-control study a further study of patients with instances of familial pancreatic cancer was conducted, based on 14 cases and 56 matched controls. The results support the finding of the main study, and there were no apparent differences in environmental-risk-factor profile in familial and nonfamilial cases. This unusual aggregation of familial pancreatic cancer among French Canadians cannot be explained by environmental factors alone. Some familial predisposition (hereditary factors) may play an important role in the etiology of this cancer, at least in this study region. The findings suggest the potential importance of conducting genetic studies of pancreatic cancer.

Cancer of the pancreas in two brothers and one sister

Over the past decades, pancreatic cancer has emerged as one of the most important malignancies in humans. This disease assumes a position of growing importance in view of its rising incidence and poor prognosis. Some familial pancreatic cancer has been reported with suggestions of hereditary, nutritional, home and familial environmental risk factors, and the possible role of genes in the development of this cancer among the members of one family. In an on-going case-control study of diet and cancer of the pancreas in Montreal, so far we were able to identify several familial cases of cancer of the pancreas. The most interesting case is the occurrence of this disease in two brothers and one sister all in their seventh decade of life. There was no history of pancreatitis among the cases or their relatives. Data from this study suggest that a familial predisposition to pancreatic cancer may occur in later decades of life. The role of genetic and environmental factors such as home remedies, familial food habits, etc., in the etiology of this cancer among these blood relatives, all in the same generation of one family, are unknown.

Familial pancreatic adenocarcinoma in three generations. A case report and a review of the literature

Although scattered case reports of familial clustering of pancreatic cancer have appeared in the literature, hereditary factors have not been clearly associated with increased risk for this malignancy. The current report documents the familial occurrence of pancreatic adenocarcinoma in three women of consecutive generations who died of their disease at progressively younger ages. The diagnoses are histologically confirmed in all three cases. Although two of the women carried a single known risk factor for pancreatic carcinoma (cigarette smoking), a familial predisposition to this disease is strongly implicated. The case suggests that the role of inheritance in pancreatic carcinoma may merit further exploration.

Coffee and cancer of the pancreas

We questioned 369 patients with histologically proved cancer of the pancreas and 644 control patients about their use of tobacco, alcohol, tea, and coffee. There was a weak positive association between pancreatic cancer and cigarette smoking, but we found no association with use of cigars, pipe tobacco, alcoholic beverages, or tea. A strong association between coffee consumption and pancreatic cancer was evident in both sexes. The association was not affected by controlling for cigarette use. For the sexes combined, there was a significant dose-response relation (P approximately 0.001); after adjustment for cigarette smoking, the relative risk associated with drinking up to two cups of coffee per day was 1.8 (95% confidence limits, 1.0 to 3.0), and that with three or more cups per day was 2.7 (1.6 to 4.7). This association should be evaluated with other data; if it reflects a causal relation between coffee drinking and pancreatic cancer, coffee use might account for a substantial proportion of the cases of this disease in the United States.