Local study aims to find pancreatic cancer earlier

Before his mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2018, Alan Sinise, 65, of Monroe, didn’t know much about the illness. He just knew that it was bad.

“I knew it was a deadly disease,” he said. “I knew people who had it and it was awful.”

Nearly a year ago, his mother died of pancreatic cancer at age 82. Like many people with the illness, she wasn’t diagnosed until it was at a late stage, stage 4. “Jeopardy” host Alex Trebek, who died Sunday after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer, also was diagnosed at stage 4.

The reason for the late diagnosis is that pancreatic cancer symptoms often aren’t felt until the disease has progressed, said Dr. Richard Frank, a medical oncologist and director of clinical cancer research at Nuvance Health, which includes Danbury, New

Milford, Norwalk and Sharon hospitals.

“The nature of this cancer is tough. Its biology is difficult to treat and difficult to catch,” Frank said.

In hopes of improving the odds of surviving pancreatic cancer, Frank is leading a study of people with either a family history of pancreatic cancer or those older than 50 who have been diagnosed with diabetes in the past year — which can be an early indicator of pancreatic cancer, Frank said.

The pancreas is a gland found in the abdomen and primarily aids in digestion and blood sugar regulation. More than half of pancreatic cancers are diagnosed at stage 4, according to a study published in 2015 in the journal “Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology.” The American Cancer Society states that pancreatic cancers diagnosed at stage 4 have only a 3 percent five-year survival rate.

Frank said he created the study looking to either catch abnormalities in the pancreas before they develop into cancer, or to catch cancers at an early enough stage that they can be treated more easily.

“I’ve seen many, many great people die and it’s very painful,” Frank said.

Those who participate in the study have bloodwork done every six months and annual MRIs to monitor any changes in the pancreas. Any suspicious lesions will be further investigated with ultrasound, and any patients with cancerous or pre-cancerous lesions will be referred for surgery, he said.

The tests are done free of charge to participants; the study is being funded through philanthropic donations.

While their mother was in Norwalk Hospital, Sinise and three of his four brothers were told they qualified for the study because of their family history. In addition to their mom, the men had two uncles diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, one of whom died from it.

Sinise signed up for the study in February. During an MRI, doctors found a pre-cancerous lesion on Sinise’s pancreas. Given his family history, surgery was done in July to remove the lesion.

The surgery is called the Whipple procedure, and involves removing and reconstructing a large part of the gastrointestinal tract. The surgery typically takes several hours and has a lengthy recovery time. At first, Sinise said, he wasn’t able lift more than 10 pounds and his activity was limited.

Now he’s recovering well, and said he’s grateful he was part of the study.

“It was a good study,” Sinise said. “It was very helpful for me. If I hadn’t done this study, I wouldn’t have know about the cyst.”

Frank, meanwhile, said he’s trying to draw more patients to the study, and is looking to get other health care systems involved. He said he’d like a total of at least 1,000 patients enrolled. So far, only about 100 are enrolled.

“It’s been slow,” Frank said. “Even though everything we provide is free, I think it’s difficult for doctors to talk to their patients about.”

Ultimately, he said, he won’t know how much of an impact the study will make unless more people will participate, though he said he is heartened that Sinise was helped by the tests.

“He did have a pre-cancerous lesion, and that’s really when you want to catch it, before it becomes cancer,” Frank said.

Those who are interested in the study, or who want to learn more about it, can call 203-852-2216 or 203-739-7227.