Steve Jobs: Why did Steve Jobs choose not to effectively treat his cancer? - Quora

Neuroendocrine tumors are relatively mild forms of cancer.

Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors (GEP-NET's) are a range of tumors that mostly keep their original function, producing endocrine hormones.
The disadvantage of that is the havoc they wreak on the body due to all sorts of hormonal imbalances caused by the hormones they produce. On the other hand, the level of differentiation is a strong indicator of how aggressive a tumor is: the better a tumor is differentiated e.g. keeps the features of its originator, the least invasive and prone to metastasis it is.

Just to illustrate how mild these tumors can be:

• As many as 10% of autopsied persons in the general population have been reported to have one of these without ever having had any symptoms during their life.
• Up to 30% of detected GEP-NETs are so well differentiated they're strictly not cancers. I have even come across an article where insulinomas, the most common type of GEP-NETs were benign in 90% of the cases.

http://www.quora.com/Steve-Jobs/Why-did-Steve-Jobs-choose-not-to-effectively-treat-his-cancer?__pmsg__=+aGpKdXVCNk93TzE3WTlqZjUxYk46YS5hcHAudmlldy5wbXNnLmFsbC5Mb2dnZWRJbkZyb21MaW5rOltbMjc5MTQ3MzldLCB7fV0*