Is Type 2 Diabetes a Risk Factor for Pancreatic Cancer?
Raffaele Pezzilli1, Riccardo Casadei2, Antonio Maria Morselli-Labate1 Departments of 1Digestive Diseases and Internal Medicine and 2Surgical and Anesthesiological Sciences, SantOrsola-Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna. Bologna, Italy The relationship between diabetes mellitus and the risk of pancreatic cancer has been a matter of study for a long time. Taking into consideration diabetes mellitus irrespective of type, there is a lack of agreement regarding the data; in fact, some epidemiological studies have excluded this possibility whereas others have found a relationship between the presence of diabetes and the development of pancreatic cancer. On the other hand, a recent study has reported that metformin may have a protective effect on the development of pancreatic cancer [1]. Therefore, we would briefly revise the data both for and against the possibility that pancreatic cancer is a consequence of long-standing diabetes. In 1994, our group performed a case-control study matc
