This page is not meant to provide medical opinions, but attempts to provide overview/contact/starting information for those with pancreatic or other types of cancer. We found a lot of information when my mother was diagnosed (details here - soon) and thought others might benefit from it.

You should consult with a Dr. regarding any medical opinions. Everyone listed should consult with you free of charge to see if you could benefit from seeing them. All links were working, but if you discover one that is not working, please let us know. If you have another site or phone number that you think should be here, alsolet us know. Corrections are also welcome, but please be nice :-)

One note, time is important. If you believe you have cancer, do not delay in getting checked because cancer caught early is more likely to be treatable. Days and weeks may count - at some point all cancer becomes much more difficult to treat and since you do not know whether that day is next month or next year you should treat it like it is sooner and hope it is later.
This is not to be alarmist, but if it is cancer, time counts, and if it is not cancer then you'll be relieved all that much sooner. Finally, as far as the statistics go -- everyone is different so don't accept the statistics, get involved and talk to your doctor. .

Best of luck to you or your loved one who is going through this. Remember that how you spend your minutes determines how you spend your life.

Useful phone numbers

These are some good places to start to request information regarding any type of cancer, including pancreatic cancer. All of it is free. For pancreatic cancer, in particular, a second opinion from a Dr who handles this type of cancer a lot is very important. It is generally worthwhile for other types also.

• NCI's (National Cancer Insitute) 800-4Cancer. They can mail you free information about a particular cancer, direct you to clinical trials, and give you other additional help. Also see their website for general information. NCI detail about pancreatic cancer - this is essentially the booklet they send out via US mail.
• American Cancer Society, pancreatic cancer page, (or get general information)
• Ronald S. Hirshberg Foundation, pancreatic cancer information page.
• Bloch Cancer hotline: 800-433-0464, a free service referal service and lets you speak with cancer survivors.
• General Cancer hotline from the American Institute for Cancer Research: 800-843-8114, extension 37 (M-F 9am - 5pm Eastern time). The have guides available for Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Colon Cancer and Lung Cancer, and more generic information for Pancreatic cancer (Sept 98)

Research Universities

These are some top notch Universities that are doing research in the Pancreatic Cancer area. They can provide further assistance. The first link is to the institutional home page, and if available by specific pancreatic cancer information and appointment/consulation information.

• Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

  Information about pancreatic cancer, and appointment information. (1-800-45-JOHNS). Detailed textbook information from JHU is located here. This is highly recommended

• University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA ( ), for pancreatic cancer in particular - this is a very nice group of pages.
• Mayo Clinic, Rochester Minn.

  Information for patients and about the pancreas in particular. (507-284-2111)

• Memorial Sloan-Kettering, New York, NY, USA

  Information for patients and about the pancreas in particular (this discussion is quite blunt). Appointment and consulatation information is here (1-800-525-2225, 212-639-4900)

• University of Miami's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Clinic

  Information for patients (including a link to the appointment desk. Information is also available in Spanish (espanol). (305-545-1000 or 800-545-2292)

• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard (800-320-0022), for pancreatic cancer in particular.
• Pancreatica.org ((831) 658-0500).

Various Web sites

• Cancer and statistics - a great article, every patient is different so don't be dismayed by the statistics from a long-term cancer survivor.
• Nice page on Pancreatic Cancer with lots of links
• What you need to know about Pancreatic Cancer
• NCI's CancerNet is also a useful resource
• NCI's web site on pancreatic cancer.
• General Clinical Trials PDQ registry information
• PDQ Search page where you can select Pancreatic Cancer.
• PDQ Search page for general searches (other types for example)
• Nice FAQ page.

Links to more pages of Information

• Cancer Information Service
• NCI's publication index - items that are available

Under construction below here, but the links should still work. [more coming]

Markers -

CEA & CA19-9 are the major blood markers used to track pancreatic cancer. They can be used to monitor the effects of therapy. (See NCI"s information)

They may also check other markers, such as the SMA (?)which shows liver function to see signs of metastasis.

Nutrition - Nutrition is important when under going treatment.

Megace - this is a progestin used to treat loss of appetite, weight loss, and malnutrition. More info.

pancrease - I don't know much about this except that it is emzymes that help take the place of enzymes not being produced as much by the pancreas.

Marinol - may be an option

Treatments

This is not a comprehensive list, but these are some more commonly used therapies.

5-FU (aka 5-Fluorouracil). There is a variation of this called FUdR which is being used in at least one clinical trial at the Universtiy of Miami.

Leucovorin - used in conjunction with other chemo-therapy drugs to increase their effectiveness.

Trimetrexate - used in conjunction with other chemo-therapy drugs to increase their effectiveness.

Gemzar (see http://www.gemzar.com/)

Nausea

Compazine info is here (http://www.healthsquare.com/pdrfg/pd/monos/compazin.htm)

Reglan is given to prevent/relieve nausea & vomiting.

Hospice

I certainly hope you don't ever need this, but if you are in need of Hospice, here are several links:

Finding a Hospice lets you find one near you (US and International), and a general Hospice site.

National Hospice Organization, and a link to locate a local Hospice.

Hospice Foundation of America's site.

Another Hospice site with some useful links.

And finally another hospice site with some more links.

Donations

A number of places doing pancreatic cancer research accept donations.

• Johns Hopkins Hospital donation information
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The list below is just a group of papers/other information that might be useful for some people. These are things that we've looked at, but haven't been able to find much in the way of comparisons. It might save you some time, but is not complete on the subject.

• Flutamide and pancreatic cancer. See British medical Journal paper ). The problem here is that this was compared to a placebo and that staging wasn't done very well.

Some alternative therapies. My own opinion is that any alternative medicine therapy should be combined with traditional therapy, if used.

• Health World Online at www.healthy.net/index.html has some alternative medicine information if you are interested in that.