Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 14, 2015; 21(26): 7988-8003
Published online Jul 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i26.7988
Current status and progress of pancreatic cancer in China
Quan-Jun Lin, Feng Yang, Chen Jin, De-Liang Fu
Quan-Jun Lin, Feng Yang, Chen Jin, De-Liang Fu, Department of Pancreatic Surgery, Pancreatic Disease Institute, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
Author contributions: Lin QJ contributed to data acquisition, drafting and revising the article, and final approval of the version to be published; Yang F contributed to the conception and design of the review, data acquisition, analysis and interpretation, revising it critically for important intellectual content and the final approval of the version to be published; Jin C and Fu DL contributed to the conception and design of the review, and final approval of it.
Supported by New Outstanding Youth Program of Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau, No. XYQ2013090; Shanghai Young Physician Training Program and the Zhuo-Xue Project of Fudan University, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81071884; Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China, No. 20110071110065.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We declare no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Feng Yang, Professor, Department of Pancreatic Surgery, Pancreatic Disease Institute, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, 12 Central Urumqi Road, Shanghai 200040, China. yffudan98@126.com
Telephone: +86-21-52887164 Fax: +86-21-52888277
Received: January 26, 2015
Peer-review started: January 27, 2015
First decision: March 12, 2015
Revised: March 31, 2015
Accepted: April 16, 2015
Article in press: April 17, 2015
Published online: July 14, 2015
Processing time: 169 Days and 0.4 Hours
Abstract

Cancer is currently one of the most important public health problems in the world. Pancreatic cancer is a fatal disease with poor prognosis. As in most other countries, the health burden of pancreatic cancer in China is increasing, with annual mortality rates almost equal to incidence rates. The increasing trend of pancreatic cancer incidence is more significant in the rural areas than in the urban areas. Annual diagnoses and deaths of pancreatic cancer in China are now beyond the number of cases in the United States. GLOBOCAN 2012 estimates that cases in China account for 19.45% (65727/337872) of all newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer and 19.27% (63662/330391) of all deaths from pancreatic cancer worldwide. The population’s growing socioeconomic status contributes to the rapid increase of China’s proportional contribution to global rates. Here, we present an overview of control programs for pancreatic cancer in China focusing on prevention, early diagnosis and treatment. In addition, we describe key epidemiological, demographic, and socioeconomic differences between China and developed countries. Facts including no nationwide screening program for pancreatic cancer, delay in early detection resulting in a late stage at presentation, lack of awareness of pancreatic cancer in the Chinese population, and low investment compared with other cancer types by government have led to backwardness in China’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis and treatment. Finally, we suggest measures to improve health outcomes of pancreatic cancer patients in China.

Keywords: Pancreatic cancer; Incidence; Diagnosis; Treatment

Core tip: The health burden of pancreatic cancer in China is increasing, with annual mortality rates almost equal to incidence rates. Cases in China account for 19.45% of all newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer and 19.27% of all deaths from pancreatic cancer worldwide. Facts including no nationwide screening program for pancreatic cancer, delay in early detection resulting in a late stage at presentation, lack of awareness of pancreatic cancer in the Chinese population, and low investment compared with other cancer types by government have led to backwardness of China’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis and treatment.