Why is pancreatic cancer so deadly? The pathologist's view

Abstract

The remarkable aggressiveness of pancreatic cancer has never been fully explained. Although clearly multifactorial, we postulate that venous invasion, a finding seen in most pancreatic cancers but not in most cancers of other organs, may be a significant, underappreciated contributor to the aggressiveness of this disease. Copyright © 2019 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: pancreas; pancreas cancer; pancreatic cancer; prognosis; tumor immune microenvironment; vein; venous invasion.