Alex Trebek has just announced that he needs more chemo. This is what that means
Catch the most crucial SOS pancreas signals before it's too late.
Danger! Alex Trebek hostHas just been announced He will undergo another round of chemotherapy for his pancreas cancer.
"I was doing so well. And my number went to the equivalent of a normal human being who does not have pancreatic cancer. So we were all very optimistic," he saidHello America. "And they said," Well, let's stop the chemo, we will start you during immunotherapy "," ... but "I lost about 12 pounds a week. And my number has become upscale , much higher than they were I was diagnosed for the first time. So doctors decided that I had to undergo a chemo again and that's what I do. "
It was not the first time this year cancer of the pancreas made the big titles related to a popular icon: the Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg also underwent treatment, and successfully, he was announced this summer. .
So, what is pancreatic cancer - and why should you worry about getting it yourself?
What is pancreas cancer?
Your pancreas, hidden behind your stomach, is a little visible organ producing without ease of essential enzymes and hormones whose body needs digestion and regulate blood glucose. The pancreatic cancer is a disease in which the cancer cells are formed in the tissues of the organ, disrupting its necessary functions.
How is it diagnosed?
The Judge Ginsberg cancer was caught during a routine blood test in July. If grabbed early, pancreatic cancer is treatable. But the vast majority of cases are not diagnosed until it is too late - largely because no reliable early detection test exists. And when something is wrong with that, your pancreas tends to murmur, not shout. This makes the identification problems particularly stimulating, especially with regard to pancreatic cancer.
How is it treated?
There are a variety of effective forms of treatment: surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy. The treatment of Judge Ginsberg lasted three weeks. It "will continue to have periodic blood tests and analyzes." Trebek has undergone chemotherapy and his tumors contract, he said earlier this year. But now he needs more treatment.
What are these Trebek numbers refers to? These are biomarkers, who can give the doctor a feeling of tumor activity.
"Cancer is mysterious more means," he saysGma. "The thought of going does not scare me," he says. "Other things to do. The effect it will have on my loved ones - yes, it bothers me. It makes me sad. But the thought of myself lighting? Hey, people, he comes with the territory."
What is the prognosis?
According to the American Cancer Society, "for all stages of combined pancreas cancer, the relative survival rate of one year is 20% and the five-year rate is 7%," reports pancreatic.org.
Trebek initially said he would fight his, ending with a joke: "The truth said I have! Because under the terms of my contract, I have to hostDanger! For three more years. "His good mood aside, the news shocked his fans - and many Americans. The" low rate survival rate statistics for this disease "said" the prognosis of this is not very encouraging ", as for Ginsberg, she "canceled her annual summer visit to Santa Fe" according to the statement, "but otherwise maintained an active schedule".
