Timeline of pancreatic cancer

This is a timeline of pancreatic cancer, describing especially major discoveries and advances in treatment of the disease.

Big picture

Year/period Key developments
18th centuryFirst description of pancreatic cancer in western medical literature.
19th centuryFirst manifestation of pancreatic cancer as a disease entity. First pancreaticoduodenectomy is attempted.
20th centuryPancreaticoduodenectomy improves early in the century and becomes successful. Allen Whipple popularizes pancreaticoduodenectomy in the 1940s. In the 1970s tobacco use is found to cause pancreatic cancer. Chemotherapy drugs are released towards the end of the century in the United States.
2000sResearchers begin to use CT scan and endoscopic imaging to screen for pancreatic tumors. The pancreatic cancer genome is mapped.[1]
Recent yearsPancreatic cancer remains an invariably deadly disease without any improvements in patient outcome over the last two decades.[2] Pancreatic cancer is the twelfth most common cancer in the world, with 338,000 new cases diagnosed in 2012.[3]

Full timeline

Year/period Type of event Event Location
1761DevelopmentItalian anatomist Giovanni Battista Morgagni is attributed with the first known description of pancreatic cancer in his publication De Sedibus Et Causis Morborum Per Anatomen Indagatis Libri Quinque.[4]
1858DevelopmentAmerican physician Jacob Mendez Da Costa describes the first microscopic diagnosis of adenocarcinoma, manifesting pancreatic cancer as a true disease entity.[4]
1898DevelopmentItalian surgeon Alessandro Codivilla performs the first reported attempt at a pancreaticoduodenectomy for a tumor involving the head of the pancreas (the patient did not survive the postoperative period).[4]
1906DevelopmentScottish embryologist John Beard proposes that pancreatic proteolytic digestive enzymes represent the body's main defense against cancer, and that enzyme therapy would be useful as a treatment for all types of cancer.[5]
1909DevelopmentGerman surgeon Walter Kausch first describes the pancreaticoduodenectomy procedure.[6]
1914AchievementGerman surgeon Georg Hirschel performs the first successful pancreaticoduodenectomy in one stage.[4]
1937AchievementAmerican physician Alexander Brunschwig performs the first successful pancreaticoduodenectomy in two stages for pancreatic cancer.[7]
1940DevelopmentAmerican surgeon Allen Whipple performs a successful one-stage pancreaticoduodenectomy, being the first to popularize the procedure (today also called Whipple procedure). His major surgical operation involves the removal of the head of the pancreas, the duodenum, the proximal jejunum, gallbladder, and often the distal stomach. This operation is performed to treat cancerous tumours of the head of the pancreas, malignant tumors involving the common bile duct, duodenal papilla or ampulla of Vater, or duodenum near the pancreas, some precancerous lesions, some cases of pancreatitis with or without a definitive cause, and rarely, severe trauma.[8]United States
1942AchievementFirst successful total pancreatectomy is performed at Mayo Clinic, for an insulinoma.[9]Rochester, Minnesota, US
1944DiscoveryFirst report of tuberculosis mimicking pancreatic cancer.[10]
1947DiscoveryFirst recognition of a causative relationship between the subcutaneous adiponecrosis and pancreatic cancer.[11]
1951DevelopmentFirst performance of resection and reconstruction of the superior mesenteric vein for pancreatic cancer at University of Minnesota.[12]Minnesota, US
1955DevelopmentResearchers first describe the clinical features of a gastrinoma (a tumor in the pancreas or duodenum).[13]
1958DevelopmentResearchers first describe the persistent watery diarrhea and hypokalemia associated with a pancreatic islet-cell tumor.[13]
1963DevelopmentThe first case of pancreatic cancer with skeletal metastases is described.[14]Russia
1967DiscoveryStudy shows that more than half of patients with pancreatic cancer have psychological symptoms occurring as early as 43 months before physical symptoms.[15]
1979DiscoveryResearchers discover biomarker CA 19-9 (commonly for diagnosis and management of patients with pancreatic cancer).[16]
1981TreatmentResearchers discover that adding fluorouracil to standard radiation boosts one year survival from 10 percent to 40 percent for patients with locally advanced inoperable pancreatic cancer.[1]
1981DiscoveryStudy at University of Maryland Medical Center links environmental exposure to pancreatic cancer. Researchers discover that male victims are more often employed in the dry-cleaning business or in occupations involving close exposure to gasoline. They also find that women at risk of PC are more likely to smoke cigarettes, have uterine tumors and have had ovaries removed or have miscarriages.[17]Baltimore, Maryland, US
1985TreatmentChemotherapy plus radiation are found to be effective as adjuvant therapy for patients with earlier stage of pancreatic cancer.[1]
1992DevelopmentEndoscopic ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) of a pancreatic mass is first described. Today it is the preferred method to sample pancreatic mass lesions.[18]
1993DevelopmentResearchers show that a vaccine composed of tumor cells irradiated and genetically modified to produce immune system growth factor GM-CSF could induce potent, specific, and long-lasting anti-tumor immunity in mice. This work leads to the therapeutic cancer vaccine GVAX.[19]United States
1994DiscoveryStudy finds that longtime cigarette smokers double their risk of pancreatic cancer.[20]United States
1996TreatmentGemcitabine is approved for pancreatic cancer that has spread to nearby organs or to distant parts of the body, after clinical trial demonstrates that it modestly extends survival compared to fluorouracil, the previous standard of care.[1]
1998DevelopmentFirst description of pancreatic stellate cells (star-shaped cells that play an essential role in pancreatic fibrosis in chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer).[2]
1999OrganizationThe Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research is established as a non-profit organization with the mission of advancing scientific and medical research related to the diagnosis, treatment, cure and prevention of pancreatic cancer.[21]Bethpage, New York, US
2004TreatmentThe European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer (ESPAC) finds that adjuvant use (after surgery) of fluorouracil more than doubles 5 year survival for patients with early pancreatic cancer.[1]
2005TreatmentUnited States FDA approves targeted drug erlotinib after trial finds that adding it to standard gemcitabine chemotherapy extends the lives of patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer, compared to gemcitabine alone.[1]United States
2007DevelopmentFirst description of pancreatic cancer stem cells. Since then, a number of cancer cells with distinct functional features (including self-renewal and exclusive in vivo tumorigenicity) emerges.[22]
2007–2008TreatmentTwo important studies demonstrate that adjuvant (post-surgery) treatment with gemcitabine, further extends survival for patients with early pancreatic cancer.[1]
2008StudyThe pancreatic cancer genome is mapped. 63 genetic abnormalities are identified, along 12 key "pathways" that are present in the vast majority of pancreatic tumors.[1]
2009OrganizationThe Pancreatic Cancer Action is established as a non-profit organization whose mission is to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer.[23]Hampshire UK
2010TreatmentMajor trial shows that initial treatment with FOLFIRINOX chemotherapy extends survival by nearly five months in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, compared with standard gemcitabine treatment.[1]
2013TreatmentStudy shows that combination of two chemotherapy drugs protein-bound paclitaxel and gemcitabine is more effective than standard single drug therapy for people with metastatic pancreatic cancer.[1]
2014 United States FDA designates GVAX given with another immunotherapy, CRS-207, as a “Breakthrough Therapy” for pancreatic cancer.[19]United States

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Pancreatic Cancer".
  2. 1 2 "Risk factors for pancreatic cancer: underlying mechanisms and potential targets". doi:10.3389/fphys.2013.00415. PMC 3893685Freely accessible.
  3. "Pancreatic cancer statistics". Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Pancreatic cancer: yesterday, today and tomorrow". Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  5. "Enzyme Therapy and Cancer". Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  6. "Current Concepts in Pancreatic Cancer". doi:10.5772/60451.
  7. Evans, Douglas B. Pancreatic Cancer.
  8. "Pancreatic cancer surgery: past, present, and future". doi:10.3978/j.issn.1000-9604.2015.06.07. PMC 4560737Freely accessible.
  9. M. Lowy, Andrew; Leach, Steven D.; Philip, Philip. Pancreatic Cancer.
  10. "Pancreatic tuberculosis with splenic tuberculosis mimicking advanced pancreatic cancer with splenic metastasizes: a case report". Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  11. "Lobular panniculitis: A manifestation of pancreatic tumor with fatal outcome" (PDF). Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  12. Al-Refaie, Waddah B. Vascular Resection for Pancreatic Cancer.
  13. 1 2 Pancreatic Cancer, Cystic Neoplasms and Endocrine Tumors.
  14. "Skeletal Metastases in Pancreatic Cancer: A Retrospective Study and Review of the Literature". PMC 2660584Freely accessible.
  15. "The Clinical Utility of CA 19-9 in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: Diagnostic and Prognostic Updates". PMC 4419808Freely accessible.
  16. "Pancreatic cancer tied to environmental causes". The Day. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  17. "Applications of endoscopic ultrasound in pancreatic cancer". doi:10.3748/wjg.v20.i24.7808. PMC 4069310Freely accessible.
  18. 1 2 "Review of Major Discoveries and Accomplishments". Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  19. "Smoking can double risk of pancreatic cancer". Ludington Daily News.
  20. "The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research". Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  21. "Concise Review: Stem Cells in Pancreatic Cancer: From Concept to Translation". doi:10.1002/stem.2114.
  22. "Pancreatic Cancer Action". Retrieved 14 September 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.