Pancreatic Cancer and Hospital Management in Portugal: An Epidemiological View

1. Theoretical Framework – Background

The incidence of pancreatic cancer is increasing worldwide with a greater than 2-fold increase observed in the last 30 years [1] (see Charts 1 and 2 in the Appendix). It is the third leading cause of death from malignant tumors in the United States [2] and the fourth in Europe [3, 4].