Does pancreatic cancer run in families?
A. Pancreatic cancer is not inherited, but a higher risk of getting it can be inherited. A person with one close relative (parent, brother or sister) who had pancreatic cancer has double the usual risk of getting it themselves. However, most (9 out of every 10 cases) of pancreatic cancers are not inherited. There is also a rare condition called hereditary pancreatitis in which people inherit a long-term inflammation of the pancreas. This condition carries a very high risk of pancreatic cancer with about half of all sufferers eventually developing the disease.
