Pancreatic cancer is the deadliest form of cancer. The killer made headlines this year after actor Pactrick Swayze talked about his battle. Thirty-eight thousand people will be diagnosed with the disease this year and thirty-four-thousand will die. A medical breakthrough is giving people a fighting chance at survival.
Patrick Swayze is one of many stars who've battled pancreatic cancer. Michael Landon, comedian Jack Benny, and Luciano Pavarotti also fell victim to it. Treatment hasn't changed much since Joan Crawford died in 1977. Rich Luze is not only giving the rich and famous hope, but everyone who is diagnosed with it. "Each day is very, very precious." Rich beat the odds. Four-percent of pancreatic cancer patients survive five years after being told they have it.
David Linehan, M.D., pancreatic surgeon, Washington University, "Typically at the time of diagnosis, it's already spread to the point where there aren't treatment options." Rich became one of the first to use an aggressive drug treatment to fight his cancer. "He's really a hero. This guy was one of the first patients in this trial."
Standard treatment consists of surgery and radiation. Oncologists at the Washington University School of Medicine are doing that and adding chemo, along with the immune stimulator drug interferon. "The treatment is really a marathon, not a sprint. It takes a long time, and just when people are starting to feel good from the surgery, you start chemotherapy and radiation."
Fighting it can take its toll. Blood counts fall. Infection risk is high. After three years on treatment, 41-percent of the patients are still alive compared to 20-percent of patients not in this clinical trial. "It's my feeling that everyone with pancreatic cancer should be enrolled in a clinical trial because standard treatments just don't work." Six years after diagnosis, Rich is cancer-free. He says the trial was a gift … that gave him more time with his grandson. "That's cool!"
One out of three pancreatic cancer patients can tolerate this agressive treatment. Rich was able to not only handle the treatment, but he didn't miss a day of work while he was on the drugs. The clinical trial is now moving into phase three, where doctors will work on making it less toxic and reduce side effects.
