Pancreatitis and the Risk of Pancreatic Cancer

Many epidemiologic studies have been performed to detect risk factors for exocrine pancreatic cancer -- a common and usually fatal gastrointestinal tumor. Smoking and reduced consumption of fruits and vegetables appear to be the best established risk factors for this tumor 1 – 9 . However, case-control studies and case reports have also implicated pancreatitis, a disease often seen in heavy drinkers, as a possible cause. Because of the limited number of cases of pancreatitis in most studies, the evidence linking these two pancreatic disorders is largely anecdotal 3 , 6 , 10 – 12 . In this report, we describe the results of a large . . .