WHAT IS THE CAUSE?
It is caused by abnormal growth and uncontrolled cell proliferation - severe starvation in the digestive system.
WHO IS AT THE HIGHEST RISK?
Most cases (90 percent) are found in people over the age of 55.
About half of all new cases occur in people 75 years of age or older.
One in 10 cases is said to be related to genes.
Other possible causes include age, smoking and other health conditions, including diabetes.
WHY KILL SO?
There is no way to diagnose pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cancer usually shows no symptoms in the early stages, where it can be controlled.
Patients often begin to report symptoms - jaundice and abdominal pain - in stage 3 or 4, where they may have spread to other organs.What is the best treatment for this issue ?
The only effective treatment is the removal of the pancreas.
This does not seem to work very well for those with cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
In such cases, palliative care is advised to alleviate their pain at the end of their life.
These patients were asked to perform 30-minute strength exercises, which could include resistance belts, weight training or yoga, twice a week.
They were also told to walk fast for 30 minutes at least three times a week.
They followed this rule six weeks before surgery to remove the cancer.
Regular blood tests showed that exercise patients had high CD8 T cells.
And looking at health records, the researchers found that these patients also had a high survival rate of 50 percent after five years.
NYU researchers say the results of their study showed for the first time that even a small amount of exercise can help treat pancreatic cancer.
They said this was important for pancreatic cancer as there were limited treatment options.
Scientists hope that the discovery will eventually lead to better treatments for people with a condition that is often diagnosed too late and that leaves us suffering from fewer options.
Dr Emma Kurz, an oncology specialist and lead author of the study, said: 'Our findings show, for the first time, how aerobic exercise affects the immune microenvironment within the pancreatic tissue.'
'Work has helped to point out that the efficacy of IL-15 expression in pancreatic cancer may be a significant future treatment.'
Continuing to test this theory, scientists are also exploring whether exercise can improve cancer treatment in mice.
By itself, this immunotherapy has been found to increase the production of cancer cells by 66 percent.
However, cancer cell production increased by 175 percent as mice continued to exercise.
NYU Grossman Professor Dafna Bar-Sagi, a biochemistry specialist and co-author of the study, said the results show potential exercises for treating pancreatic cancer.
"The fact that even a small amount of exercise can drastically change the vegetation environment demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach in treating patients with severe disease and fewer options," he said.
The researchers said they now plan to conduct another clinical trial examining the impact of exercise on patients with pancreatic cancer.
They published their findings in the journal Cancer Cell.
Pancreatic cancer is more deadly in part because of how difficult it is to diagnose and treat.
About 95 percent of the people who found it died from it.
About 9,000 British people die of pancreatic cancer each year. The figure stands at about 50,000 in the US.
The best chance for cancer treatment is surgery to remove cancerous tissue, but only 10 percent of people have this option as it is usually only found when the tumor has begun to spread to other parts of the body.
NHS advice states that adults should perform at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week or 75 minutes of intensive physical activity per week.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most dangerous forms of the disease, and about 95 percent of those who get it die from it.
Joan Crawford, Patrick Swayze and Luciano Pavarotti all died of pancreatic cancer.
It is the sixth most common cause of cancer in the UK - about 10,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year in the UK, and about 55,000 in the US.
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