Abstract
Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal disease, which is in most cases diagnosed too late to be treated radically. It is the fifth leading cause of death in men and the sixth leading cause of death in women in the "western world", with median survival shorter than six months and five-year survival between 1-4 %.
Diabetes mellitus is an independent risk factor of pancreatic cancer. Diabetes mellitus increases the total risk of pancreatic cancer twofold compared to non-diabetic population, eightfold during the first three years of the disease and elevenfold during the same period in patients with a positive familiar history..
Smoking is the additional independent risk factor. In patients with diabetes mellitus the imaging examination of pancreas should be performed, especially in recent diagnosis; or the oncomarkers CA 19-9 and CEA should be measured.
The higher risk of pancreatic cancer should be continuously taken into account