New program provides comprehensive approach to pancreatic cancer

MIAMI ā€“ A new program is focused on fighting one of the deadliest cancers.

The Sylvester Pancreatic Cancer Research Institute was created to increase collaborations between scientists and clinicians and provide more treatment options for patients.

ā€œThe reason pancreatic cancer outcomes are so poor is that the disease is resistant to almost every type of treatment and what weā€™re really trying to do is take a holistic approach to address this hurdle. Weā€™re trying to leverage our very robust clinical programs, our high volume of patients that we see as well as the world-class research weā€™re doing in the laboratory,ā€ said Dr. Nipun Merchant, surgical oncologist and founding director of the Sylvester Pancreatic Cancer Research Institute.

The incidence of pancreatic cancer continues to rise.

Itā€™s currently the third leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. and experts say itā€™ll soon become the second leading cause of death just behind lung cancer.

Coffee benefits

When it comes to coffee thereā€™s good news for those who like it sweet.

Researchers found people who drank a moderate amount of either sweetened or unsweetened coffee each day were 30% less likely to die from any cause over a seven-year period compared to non-coffee drinkers.

They defined moderate coffee consumption as drinking between one-and-a-half to three-and-a-half cups a day.

While other studies have looked at regular coffee drinking and the risk of dying, this study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, was the first to explicitly look at the effect of adding sugar.


About the Authors:

Kristi Krueger has built a solid reputation as an award-winning medical reporter and effervescent anchor. She joined Local 10 in August 1993. After many years co-anchoring the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., Kristi now co-anchors the noon newscasts, giving her more time in the evening with her family.

Veteran journalist Kathleen Corso is the special projects producer for Local 10 News.