This year, an estimated 45,220 adults (22,740 men and 22,480 women) in the United States will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It is estimated that 38,460 deaths (19,480 men and 18,980 women) from this disease will occur this year. Pancreatic cancer is the tenth most common cancer in men, the ninth most common cancer in women, and the fourth leading cause of cancer death in men and women. As explained in the Overview [2], most pancreatic cancers are adenocarcinoma, and these statistics are for that type of pancreatic cancer.

Because pancreatic cancer can often be difficult to diagnose, it is often not found until later stages when the cancer can no longer be removed with surgery and has spread from the pancreas to other parts of the body. The overall one-year survival rate (percentage of people who survive at least one year after the cancer is detected, excluding those who die from other diseases) of people with pancreatic cancer is 26%, and the five-year survival rate (percentage of people who survive at least five years after the cancer is detected, excluding those who die from other diseases) is approximately 6%. If the cancer is detected at an early stage when surgical removal of the tumor is possible, the five-year survival rate is about 22%.

Cancer survival statistics should be interpreted with caution. These estimates are based on data from thousands of people with this type of cancer in the United States each year, but the actual risk for a particular individual may differ. It is not possible to tell a person how long he or she will live with pancreatic cancer. Because the survival statistics are measured in one-year or five-year intervals, they may not represent advances made in the treatment or diagnosis of this cancer.

Learn more about understanding statistics [3].

Statistics adapted from the American Cancer Society's publication, Cancer Facts & Figures 2013.