Type 2 diabetes could be the first sign of hidden pancreatic cancer, researchers say
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Developing or worsening type 2 diabetes could be an early sign of pancreatic cancer, according to a study presented at the European Cancer Congress, held from Jan. 27 to 30 in Amsterdam.
Researchers analyzed data from nearly a million patients with type 2 diabetes or pancreatic cancer in Italy and Belgium. Half of all pancreatic cancer cases were diagnosed within a year of patients being diagnosed with diabetes.
The investigators also found that type 2 diabetes patients whose condition deteriorated rapidly requiring more aggressive treatment were also at increased risk for pancreatic cancer.
“Doctors and their diabetic patients should be aware that the onset of diabetes or rapidly deteriorating diabetes could be the first sign of hidden pancreatic cancer, and steps should be taken to investigate it,” study author Alice Koechlin, a research officer at the International Prevention Research Institute in Lyon, France, said in a European Cancer Congress news release. “We hope that our results will encourage the search for blood markers indicating the presence of pancreatic cancer, which could guide decisions to perform a confirmation examination like endoscopy.”
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