What exactly is pancreatic cancer?

News of Steve Jobs’ death spread like wildfire Wednesday night. The co-founder of Apple suffered a battle with pancreatic cancer, which ultimately took his life.

What exactly is pancreatic cancer, though?

According to Cancer.org, the pancreas is a small, fish-shaped organ found behind the stomach.

The organ has two different kinds of glands: the exocrine and the endocrine.

While tumors can form on both glands, exocrine tumors are much more common.

.In the United States each year, more than 30,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, according to MedicalNewsToday.com. The disease is more common in Europe as 60,000 people are diagnosed annually.

Since the cancer is usually diagnosed late into its development, the five-year survival rate is less than 5%.

Jobs, who lived for seven years after he was diagnosed, had a neuroendocrine tumor. This is a less common, slower-growing tumor which his usually more treatable.

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