Study Links Hepatitis B and Cancer of the Pancreas

1
Study Links Hepatitis B and Cancer of the
Pancreas

• Article by Denise Grady
• New York Times
• September 29th, 2008

2
Definitions

• Hepatitis B A virus that attacks the liver and
  causes it to swell and malfunction.
• Pancreatic Cancer - Malignancy of the pancreas.

3
(No Transcript)
4
Pancreatic Cancer Statistics

• Most people have a less than 1 chance of
  contracting the disease.
• There are about 38,000 new cases a year in the
  United States.
• Fatality rate is very high and most infected
  patients die within a few months of contracting
  the disease.

5
New Findings

• The Hepatitis B virus may increase the risk of
  pancreatic cancer.
• A vaccine is available to prevent the infection
  of Hepatitis B.
• Patients with Hepatitis B have been advised to
  refrain from smoking, and to control their weight
  to help lessen the risk of contracting pancreatic
  cancer.

6
The Study

• 476 people who had pancreatic cancer were
  compared with 879 healthy control subjects. All
  were tested to see if they had ever been infected
  with the viruses that cause hepatitis B.
• The cancer patients were twice as likely as the
  healthy ones to have had hepatitis B.
• Among those with cancer, 7.6 had had hepatitis
  B, as opposed to only 3.2 percent of the healthy
  controls.

7
References

• Grady, Denise. Study Links Hepatitis B and
  Cancer of the Pancreas. New York Times,
  September 29, 2008.
• http//digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/hepb
  _ez/1