● http://www.pancreatica.org

Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of any solid tumour. Although it might be cold comfort to those living with the disease that there is a web site just for them, Pancreatica works well because it's realistic about the chances of a cure and because it isn't over-ambitious. The site provides only four main resources, but each is carefully thought out and regularly updated. And although it's designed with patients in mind, researchers will find much to enlighten them here.

The most prominent resource is a searchable database of clinical trials. The search page is carefully structured so that the user can select features such as cancer type, trial phase and type of treatment from pull-down menus, as well as searching according to trial locations and whether prior therapy is allowed.

Pancreatic cancer news provides press releases on basic and clinical research. There's also a 'newswire service', providing relevant newspaper articles. There's some overlap in content between this and the news page, and researchers would probably find the former the most useful of the two.

The 'frequently asked questions' section provides clear summaries on 15 questions, spanning diagnosis to end-of-life issues. Controversies, such as the lack of an internationally recognized grading and staging system, are discussed, and hypertext links to other sites are provided.

Pancreatica also provides a list of links and research resources; researchers will find the lists of institutions and charities that fund research into pancreatic cancer valuable. The site provides a sober reminder of why we're doing cancer research, and its producers should be congratulated for their measured approach to a challenging topic.