Steve Jobs died this past week from a long standing battle against pancreatic cancer which was first diagnosed in 2003 and now it has been discovered that the 56-year-old tech mogul survived so long because his cancer was of the neuroendocrine variety.
Less than 5 percent of all pancreatic-cancer patients are diagnosed with the type of cancer Jobs was suffering from with the more common type existing in the organ’s digestive cells. Because of his cancer type the disease spread more slowly at first, providing Jobs with more time.
Dr. Jonathan Strosberg, a medical oncologist spoke with the Palm Beach Post and revealed of the cancer type:
“Typically, the one-year survival rate for those with pancreatic cancer in the digestive cells is less than 20 percent, primarily because the cancer is usually discovered so late that it’s advanced and, therefore, inoperable.”
Because Jobs had a neuroendocrine tumor it spread less quickly but had produced hormones which put Jobs at a higher risk for recurrence.
Jobs bought some time for himself after undergoing a liver transplant in 2009 although the medical community is split on whether liver transplants actually help patients with pancreatic cancer with some doctors advising against it.
Strosberg also notes that Jobs traveled to Europe where he received targeted radiation treatments which were not available in the United States at the time.
In any case it was a sad outcome for Jobs and it’s strange to think what Apple might look like today if he would have succumb to the disease in 2003 instead of late 2011.
