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Can Asbestos Exposure Cause Pancreatic Cancer?

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive and deadly forms of cancer: only 7% of pancreatic cancer patients will survive beyond 5 years after initial diagnosis, no matter the stage that the cancer has progressed to.

The scientific community is not in agreement as to whether pancreatic cancer can be linked with asbestos exposure.

Asbestos fibers have been found in the pancreas of exposed subjects in animal studies.  In another study, self-reported exposure to asbestos was found to correlate with higher pancreatic cancer risk.  A cohort study of residents of Woodstock, NY that had been exposed to asbestos in their water supply found higher rates of pancreatic cancer than in the rest of the state.

Despite these findings, a meta-analysis of 92 studies covering 161 cohort populations found a “weak or non-positive” relationship between asbestos exposure and heightened rates of pancreatic cancer.  This does not necessarily mean there is no relationship between pancreatic cancer and asbestos exposure.  Researchers have acknowledged that the aggressiveness and high mortality rates of pancreatic cancer may translate to incomplete data on the numbers of patients who have been asbestos exposed.  In other words, more and better research on human subjects, that more carefully takes into account cause of death, is needed to definitively conclude whether or note asbestos exposure has a role in causing pancreatic cancer.