Aretha Franklin Has Pancreatic Cancer

Aretha Franklin, America's "Queen of Soul," is fighting the very deadly pancreatic cancer. She has reportedly undergone surgery and is recovering at home.

While sources close to the singer have not commented much on her condition, it's no secret that pancreatic cancer does not have a strong survival rate. Last year actor Patrick Swayze died of the disease only a year and a half after diagnosis.

Pancreatic cancer is among the most deadly forms of cancer, in large part because it is so difficult to diagnose. "There is no standard screening for pancreatic cancer," Dr. Jason Klapman, endoscopic oncologist at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, told AOL Health Thursday afternoon. "By the time it's diagnosed, it's advanced."

It's a relatively rare cancer, affecting only about 40,000 people a year. And only about 25 percent of cases, says Klapman, are operable. Of patients who undergo surgery, 20 to 25 percent have a five-year survival rate. For the rest, life expectancy can be as little as a few months.

Overall, the one-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is 20 percent, while the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is just 4 percent, according to the American Cancer Society. Comparatively, cancers of the breast, prostate, thyroid and skin, all have upwards of a 90 percent survival rate, depending on when the cancer is caught.

Common symptoms of pancreatic cancer include jaundice, change in the color of stool and urine, severe abdominal pain, unexplained weight loss, attacks of pancreatitis, or sudden onset of diabetes. But those symptoms only begin to appear once the cancer is quite advanced. "It's a silent disease," Klapman says.

According to Klapman, only 10 pecent of patients with pancreatic cancer have a family history of the disease, though people with two or more first-degree relatives who have had pancreatic cancer are considered at very high risk. Other risk factors include having at least three relatives on the same side of one's family with the disease and being a carrier of the BRAC2 gene mutation that is also a risk factor for breast cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is diagnosed using a CT Scan to check for a mass in the pancreas and then using biopsy to confirm. "The best treatment for the disease is surgery," Klapman says, but it's not always possible if the cancer has metastasized. In those cases, doctors try to fight the cancer with radiation and chemotherapy.

It is difficult to trace specific causes of pancreatic cancer, though it can be associated with smoking, drinking, and obesity. Thus, the best preventive advice one can follow is to eat right, don't smoke, and avoid heavy consumption of alcohol.

As for Franklin, no one knows what her prognosis is at this point, but she has canceled all scheduled performances through May 2011.

Ruth Ginsburg is hospitalized with pancreatic cancer

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had surgery Thursday after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the court said.

Ginsburg, 75, had the surgery at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. She will remain in the hospital for seven to 10 days, said her surgeon, Dr. Murray Brennan, according to a release issued by the court.

The court announcement said the cancer is apparently in the early stages.

In 1999, Ginsburg had surgery for colon cancer and had chemotherapy and radiation treatment. The only woman on the court, she has been a justice since 1993.

The pancreatic cancer was discovered during a routine, annual exam late last month at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

A CAT scan revealed a tumor measuring about 1 centimeter across the center of the pancreas, the court said.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly cancers: Nearly 38,000 cases a year are diagnosed and overall, fewer than 5 percent survive five years.

The reason: Fewer than one in 10 cases are diagnosed at an early stage — like Ginsburg's appears to be — before the cancer has begun spreading through the abdomen and beyond. That's because early pancreatic cancer produces few symptoms other than vague indigestion.

Even when caught early, surgery for pancreatic cancer is arduous. Doctors typically remove parts of the pancreas, stomach and intestines. Radiation and chemotherapy are common after surgery.

Ginsburg has recently told her former law clerks and others that she envisioned serving on the court into her 80s, although those comments were made before the latest diagnosis.

Ginsburg is one of only two female justices ever. The other is Sandra Day O'Connor, who retired in 2006.

In her previous bout with cancer, Ginsburg received treatment throughout the court's term and never missed a day on the bench.

The justices, in the midst of a winter break, hold their next private conference on Feb. 20 and return to the bench on Feb. 23.

The court's announcement offered few details about the surgery. Brennan is a renowned surgeon whose expertise is treatment of pancreatic cancers and tumors on other soft tissues, like the adrenal and thyroid glands. He was chair of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's surgery department from 1985 until June 2006.