Many pancreatic cancer symptoms are common ones for many other less-lethal conditions. So how do you know when to look for pancreatic cancer?

Let’s Win Pancreatic Cancer and the National Alliance for Hispanic Health’s Nuestras Voces Network Program have teamed up for a webinar to explain the relationship between risk factors and symptoms, to shed some light on getting diagnosed as soon as possible.

This webinar focuses on Risk Factors and Symptoms of Pancreatic Cancer. It will be held on Wednesday, October 25th at 2 p.m. Eastern. Oncologist Dr. Shaalan Beg and gastroenterologist Dr. Oscar Alvarez will discuss how the combination of risk factors and symptoms can lead doctors to think of pancreatic cancer. The moderator is Juan Pellerano-Rendon, a pancreatic cancer advocate who lost his mother to the disease.

Pancreatic cancer is notorious as a cancer that is diagnosed late and is difficult to treat. In fact, it is poised to become the second leading cause of cancer deaths by 2030. About 64,000 people are found to have pancreatic cancer each year in the U.S., with a slightly higher rate of occurrence in Black Americans. The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is about 12 percent, in part because the disease is often diagnosed at an advanced stage. About 10 percent of pancreatic cancer cases are hereditary—two or more family members have had the disease. In between 10 and 20 percent of those cases there is an identified genetic mutation associated with the cancer, such as BRCA, but often there is no known mutation.

Register here  to learn more pancreatic cancer risk factors and symptoms.

Pancreatic cancer symptoms are common to many other less-lethal conditions. By putting together symptoms and risk factors, gastroenterologists and primary care doctors can recognize the possibility that the patient has pancreatic cancer and get testing started as early as possible. Earlier diagnosis leads to more treatment options and a better survival rate.