I was watching am excerpt of the Patrick Swayze interview where he talks about his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and saying he thinks living for another five years is "wishful thinking". He is very brave yet realistic about this cancer that usually kills 95% of people who have it within a few years.
Why is this? Survival rates of breast, cervical and other cancers are fairly good if caught early. Is pancreatic cancer so hard to detect? Is it so rare that there are no "standard" annual tests like there are for cancers of the breast or cervix? If the survival rate is so low, why are we not routinely checked for it?