Ontario Pancreas Cancer Study

The Ontario Pancreas Cancer Study (OPCS) is being conducted to study factors associated with pancreas cancer, such as genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors, as well as what treatments are available to patients with the disease. The OPCS began in April 2003.  As of June 2010, over 700 people have enrolled in the study.

The study aims to identify and contact newly diagnosed patients with pancreas cancer. We identify patients from pathology reports transmitted routinely to the Ontario Cancer Registry and we will contact these patients with the permission of their physician. Only patients who have had a biopsy or another surgical procedure will have a pathology report available.

We invite patients from all over Ontario to participate. We recruit patients with any family history of cancer, although some patients may have no other cases of cancer in their family.

The first stage of the study involves obtaining information about family history, medical treatment, and personal history data from a questionnaire package that is mailed to participants.

The second stage of the study involves collecting a blood or saliva sample, and any available tissue samples from previous surgeries. These samples will be used to investigate potential sources of genetic risk for pancreas cancer. Genetic counselling is available to every participant.

The results of the study will provide important information on the risk factors and possible genetic markers for pancreas cancer, so that pancreas cancer screening techniques can be used in the future with the hopes of identifying the disease at an early stage.

The Ontario Pancreas Cancer Study team greatly acknowledges and appreciates the participation of everyone involved. If you have any questions regarding our research or would like to become involved, please contact Samantha Janes at sjanes@mtsinai.on.ca.  You can also call toll free at 1-877-586-1559 and leave a message.

Genetic Study for Pancreatic Cancer

Our Registry is collaborating with several other pancreatic cancer registries in North America on a genetic study called PACGENE (Pancreatic Cancer Genetic Epidemiology). The goal of this study is to learn about the causes of pancreatic cancer — both genetic and environmental. So far, our centre has enrolled approximately 300 families across Canada for this research and study recruitment continues.

Which families are eligible to participate?
Any family with two or more relatives diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (on the same side of the family) is welcome to contact our registry. We recruit families where the cases of pancreatic cancer are living and/or deceased.

What does participation involve?

We ask details about the family history of cancer. We obtain the medical records (where possible) for each diagnosis of cancer in the family. We are interested in enrolling both cancer patients as well as their healthy relatives.

All participants are asked to complete a questionnaire asking about lifestyle and various environmental risk factors. We also ask participants to provide a blood sample and/or a tissue sample (from previous surgical procedures) for genetic studies. The most helpful samples for genetic studies are from relatives who have the disease.

All participants have an opportunity to speak with a genetic counsellor about their family history and the details of the research. Participation in this study does not require a trip to Toronto.

Who do I contact to participate?
Please e-mail fgicr@mtsinai.on.ca or call toll free at 1-877-586-1559 and leave us a message.

Which other centres are participating in this study?

• Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
• Johns Hopkins University, Maryland
• Karmanos Cancer Institute, Michigan
• MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas
• Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston

CONTROLS NEEDED!!

We are currently interested in recruiting controls for PACGENE. A control is defined as someone who is not blood-related to the pancreas cancer patient or to their other family members. There may be more than one married-in/unrelated control per family who could be eligible to participate (e.g., spouse, in-law). Controls cannot have a personal history of cancer (except non-melanoma skin cancer).
The purpose of control recruitment is to be able to compare information collected from people diagnosed with pancreas cancer with a control group that has not been diagnosed with cancer. The information gathered from this study may be helpful in the diagnosis and treatment of future patients with this disease. The genetic material (e.g., from blood or saliva samples) obtained from this study may be used in the future to identify genes involved in pancreas cancer and to develop treatments to target those genetic abnormalities that cause cancer.

What Does Participation Involve?

Participation involves completing a one-page questionnaire and providing a blood or saliva sample. Every participant will have an opportunity to speak with a genetic counsellor. If you are interested in participating or would like more information about this study, please call toll free at 1-877-586-1559 or email us at fgicr@mtsinai.on.ca.

Pancreas Cancer Screening Study - Enrollment is now closed

As for other types of cancers, early detection is associated with a better prognosis or outcome. Unfortunately, the majority of pancreas cancer cases are diagnosed at late stages. This is mainly because the symptoms, if there are any, are non-specific.

Different groups have been researching various screening tools for detecting early stage pancreatic cancer, but unfortunately, there are no proven clinical screening recommendations available at this time.

Our pancreatic cancer screening study began in 2003. The goal is to determine the effectiveness of ultrasound and MRI for early detection of pancreatic cancer. We are looking specifically for the most common type of pancreatic cancer (adenocarcinoma) in individuals who are suspected to be at high risk for this disease.

Participants include individuals with familial pancreatic cancer (having at least 2 relatives with pancreatic cancer on the same side of the family), or a known hereditary condition that predisposes to this disease. In general, we will screen individuals who are age 50, or 10 years younger than the youngest case of pancreatic cancer in the family.

Participants are asked to return annually for scans. The ultrasound is performed at the Toronto General Hospital and the MRI scan is performed at the Princess Margaret Hospital. Participation also involves meeting with a genetic counsellor, providing a blood sample, and completing questionnaires asking about various environmental risk factors and psychosocial issues of interest. Participants in this study must be residents of Ontario.
 
To date, we have enrolled over 260 participants and over half have been screened at least three times.  At the moment new enrollment is closed as we are not accepting new recruits. So far three cases of pancreatic cancer (two of these were adenocarcinoma) have been identified over the course of the study. Other cancer types have also been detected.

Our recent findings suggest that MRI may be effective at detecting small pancreatic lesions, but further investigation is needed. As of January 2009, we discontinued the use of abdominal ultrasound.  This decision was based on our findings that abdominal ultrasound did not detect potentially important pancreas lesions (abnormal changes) that were identified on MRI.

For more information about the pancreas cancer screening study, please e-mail fgicr@mtsinai.on.ca or call toll free at 1-877-586-1559 and leave a message.

A generous donation was made by Pancreatic Cancer Canada (formerly the Dick Aldridge Pancreatic Cancer Foundation) to the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation to support our continued research in the early detection of pancreatic cancer. For more information about the Pancreatic Cancer Canada foundation, please go to www.pancreaticcancercanada.ca.