Healthy Gums May Prevent Pancreatic Cancer, New Drug Could Treat It

The researchers found they were able to almost double the median disease-free survival of the group treated with gemcitabine to 13.4 months, compared to 6.9 months for the group that received no additional therapy.

Disease-free survival means the time it takes for the disease to reappear after removal at surgery. Median means that half the group had its disease recur before the number of months noted, and the other half afterward.

In addition, the authors estimated that about one in six patients in the group treated with the chemotherapy would be alive at five years, compared to only about one in 20 of the patients who did not receive postoperative gemcitabine.

This is just an estimate, of course. As noted in an editorial that accompanied this article, there is still controversy over the best approach to the adjuvant treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Other chemotherapy regimens, with and without radiation therapy, have been tried. Finding a single approach that the experts can agree on as the best approach remains difficult.

There were also some limits to the study, as noted both by the authors and in the editorial.

Perhaps one of the major issues with the study is that many of the patients were treated in small community practices. While this lends a "real world" quality to the study, it raises questions about the consistency of the surgeries and the quality of the examinations the patients received.

That said, however, the results of the study suggest that gemcitabine, as a single drug, has value in the adjuvant therapy of this otherwise deadly disease.

Dental Care Could Spell Prevention for Pancreatic Cancer

Another study appearing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggests a lifestyle intervention that may help reduce your risk of pancreatic cancer.

We know that risk factors for pancreatic cancer include cigarette smoking and possibly diabetes and obesity.

Encouraged by other information that suggests gum inflammation (periodontal disease) and tooth loss may also be associated in some way with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer, researchers from Harvard University and the University of Puerto Rico looked at a large database of information to find out whether there was any evidence of such a connection.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld is deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.