Raising Awareness of Pancreatic Cancer amongst GPs

In order to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer amongst the GP community Sue Ballard, a trustee of Pancreatic Cancer UK, contacted the Primary Care Society for Gastroenterology(PCSG) and as a result Sue and fellow trustee Dr Ian Kemp (a member of the PCSG) were invited to the Society's buffet lunch at the British Society of Gastroenterology(BSG) Annual Meeting in Birmingham on 21st March.

At lunch Sue and Ian were able to talk to the PCSG Chair Dr Richard Stevens and President Professor Roger Jones about raising awareness of pancreatic cancer and especially about how or whether it is possible to get earlier diagnosis through greater recognition of symptoms or further studies to separate pancreatic cancer symptoms from those of benign diseases.

Whilst at the BSG meeting Sue and Ian were able to attend an interesting session on service development including a talk on "Is the 2 week wait saving lives? a prospective follow-up of patients diagnosed with oesophageal-gastric and pancreatic cancer in 2003" and the Pancreas Section of the BSG's Pancreatic Symposium on "Precursors of pancreatic malignancy" including talks on PANINs, genetic predisposition, hormonal effects and whether screening is worthwhile.

As a result of those discussions the PCSG decided to dedicate a session at its Annual Scientific Meeting at the Royal College of Physicians in London on Friday 13th October 2006 to "Towards Earlier Diagnosis in GI Cancers" which includes a talk on pancreatic cancer by Professor John Neoptolemos.

Dr Stevens has also said "I have been thinking about pancreatic cancer and some of your comments. It really does not get the coverage it warrents - especially as it as common as the other upper GI cancers. We should return to it at another meeting."

GPs should contact the PCSG if they are interested in joining the society and attending the meeting. Details about how to join the society can be found on the society's web-site http://www.pcsg.org.uk where you can also find the programme for the meeting and a booking form

Pancreatic Cancer UK were also invited to write an article for the PCSG newsletter about pancreatic cancer entitled "Pancreatic Cancer - "The Forgotten Cancer" " and this has appeared on the front page and second page of their September 2006 edition. Usefully there was also an article on "Management of abnormal liver function tests in the non-jaundiced patient in the same edition" which includes pancreatic cancer as a possible cause.