Simultaneous presentation of pancreatic cancer in a genetically unrelated couple

Abstract

Patients with pancreatic cancer tend to have a poor prognosis despite aggressive treatment, and their 5-year overall survival rate remains dismal. Several risk factors could potentially trigger the development of pancreatic cancer but many of them identified so far have been only weakly linked. Occurrence of pancreatic cancer in a husband and wife around the same time in the same household even when exposed to similar environmental factors is rare. Although familial pancreatic cancer is a known entity, pancreatic cancer in genetically unrelated married couples has not been studied. Here we present such a scenario involving one couple. In this case report, we discuss the chronological events leading to pancreatic cancer in a genetically unrelated married couple and the risk factors that may have led to cancer, in addition to exploring the possible links.