Legendary singer Aretha Franklin, 68, is scheduled to be released from the hospital this weekend following "extremely successful" surgery for pancreatic cancer.
According to the National Cancer Institute's SEER statistics, 5 year survival rates for metastatic pancreatic cancer are under 2%, making it an extraordinarily deadly form of cancer.
Although little specific information about Franklin's disease has been forthcoming, if reports are accurate, that she underwent a successful surgery, one could infer that Franklin falls into the 15% or so of patients whose tumor was caught early and was therefore resectable, meaning it could be removed through surgery.
Over 43,000 Americans are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year, and almost 37,000 patients are expected to die of the disease.
Currently, surgery is the best treatment option for patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In this case, surgery can either have longer-term survival for the patient in mind, or it can be performed in a palliative setting.
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