Reuters has reportedly spoken with doctors who say Steve Jobs’ cancer may have returned. But let’s pull this apart.
Could it be something other than cancer?
“If an operation removes 30 to 50 percent of the pancreas, you’re missing cell mass that produces juices that aid digestion. It could lead to weight loss and fatigue,” Schwarz said in an interview at an American Society of Clinical Oncology conference on gastrointestinal cancers in San Francisco.
“Jobs could also be coping with side effects of that surgery that can be treated easily, they said.”
Could it be cancer?
“the tumor he was treated for in 2004 could have spread to another organ or resurfaced in the pancreas, requiring surgery or other treatment.”
“The tumors are easily removed surgically but recur in roughly half of patients, said Dr. Roderich Schwarz, a cancer surgeon at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.”
“(Jobs) may have a new mass that’s substantially altering his physiology and causing him to lose weight.”
“Islet-cell tumors can cause over-secretion of hormones including insulin into the bloodstream, wreaking havoc on digestion and leading to drastic weight loss.”
“In Jobs’ case, “we’re probably talking about something more complicated, like surgery,” that would take longer, Kim said. Surgery on patients with recurrent islet-cell tumors can be “extremely difficult, if not risky,” he added.”
You decide.
Update: Bloomberg is now reporting that Jobs could be undergoing a liver transplant.