# Pancreatic Cancer: The new IT Girl.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pancreatic-cancer-the-new-it-girl/484769>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 7, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pancreatic-cancer-the-new-it-girl/484769 "2009-02-07T01:12:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pancreatic-cancer-the-new-it-girl/484769/1 "2009-02-07T01:12:42Z")

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Is it just me or has there been an extraordinarily large number of high profile Pancreatic Cancer diagnoses in the last 6-12 months or so? It’s a pretty rare disease, yet it seems like there’s a new headline on CNN every week.

There’s Ruth Bader-Ginsberg, Steve Jobs, Patrick Swayze, Gene Upshaw and I’m sure I’m missing a few others.

No real point, it just seems weird.

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**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pancreatic-cancer-the-new-it-girl/484769/2 "2009-02-07T02:16:10Z")

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It’s not just you. I’ve thought the same thing.

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**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pancreatic-cancer-the-new-it-girl/484769/3 "2009-02-07T02:20:38Z")

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Nah. I’ve had four close relatives die of it in the last ten years. That’s about half the deaths in my family. I never thought of it as being rare, ergo.

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**Author:** ![dactylic\_hexameter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@dactylic\_hexameter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dactylic_hexameter)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pancreatic-cancer-the-new-it-girl/484769/4 "2009-02-07T02:27:35Z")

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I think detection may have improved recently. It has such a low survival rate, and quick course, that sometimes people would die before doctors ever figured it out. Declining autopsy rates don’t help either. Also, high profile people may be more likely to get top medical care - more aggressive treatment of “minor illnesses”. I believe Pancreatic cancer often presents as non-localize abdominal pain and loss of appetite. You and I would be sent away with a dx of a gall-bladder attack, or a stomach flu. Steve Jobs or RBG gets whisked into a CT scan.