Obesity may shorten pancreatic cancer survival rates - WCAX.COM
Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-  Obesity may shorten
pancreatic cancer survival rates  Posted: Updated: Dr. Rick
Zubarik Dr. Rick Zubarik  There are no mammograms, colonoscopies
or PSA tests to help screen for pancreatic cancer. So by the
time symptoms appear, it's usually too late. The cancer has
advanced to a stage that is not curable.  "The survival rate for
all those who develop pancreatic cancer is about 5 percent at
five years," said Dr. Rick Zubarik, a gastroenterologist at
Fletcher Allen Health Care/UVM. "So 5 percent of people who
develop it live five years, and the median survival in general
is from five to seven months."  Not long, and now a new study
says if you're obese and you get pancreatic cancer you may live
even less time-- two to three months less compared to healthy
weight patients with the same disease. Doctors already knew
obesity and smoking put people at greater risk for developing
pancreatic cancer, but what they