Pancreatic Cancer on Steve Jobs

Pancreatic Cancer on Steve Jobs – His decision to step down as Apple’s CEO, however, signals that his disease – kept in check for more than seven years – is advancing beyond doctors’ ability to control it, experts say.

While no one can say how Jobs will fare, “I suspect we will not be talking about years” of additional survival, says Zev Wainberg, a gastrointestinal oncologist with UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center with no personal knowledge of the case.

obs suffers from a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, which accounts for only about 5% of the 43,000 pancreatic cancers diagnosed each year, and is generally more curable than more common types of pancreatic cancer, says Margaret Tempero, a pancreatic cancer expert at the University of California-San Francisco and former president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Patients with the most common form of pancreatic cancer often live less than a year, says Tempero, who hasn’t treated Jobs.

Neuroendocrine tumors, which arise in hormone-producing cells of the pancreas, typically grow much more slowly, allowing patients to live at least two or three years, says Wainberg, who hasn’t treated Jobs.

Unless the disease is completely eradicated, however, the cancer eventually takes a turn for the worse, growing much more quickly, Wainberg says.

Pancreatic Cancer on Steve Jobs

Jobs’ previous six-month departure from the company in 2009 was surrounded by speculation that the CEO was much more ill than he let on.

Jerry York, the Apple director at the time, told Fortune that Jobs made a secret flight to Switzerland at the time, where he reportedly underwent a rare radiological treatment for neuroendocrine cancer.

The Wall Street Journal also unearthed details in June of that year that pointed to Jobs obtaining a secret liver transplant, reportedly conducted in Memphis, Tennessee, related to his cancer.

York died in March 2010, and the details of his Fortune interview, revealed after his death, seemed to paint a more drastic picture of Jobs’ health.

The blogosphere lit up with concerns and speculations over Jobs’ state of health Wednesday following RadarOnline’s post.

The National Enquirer, which claims to be running the latest photos of Jobs, spoke with critical-care physician Dr. Samuel Jacobson, who said Jobs’ prognosis does not look promising.

“Judging from the photos, he is close to terminal. I would say he has six weeks,” Jacobson said.
Pancreatic Cancer on Steve Jobs