Pancreatic Cancer At A Glance

The pancreas is a gland organ that is located in the abdomen. The pancreas is about 6 inches long and looks something like a pear lying on its side. The pancreas is a crucial part of your digestive system and produces important enzymes and hormones that help break down foods. It produces digestive juices to help your body digest food.

While it is practically impossible to know what caused a specific person to develop pancreatic cancer, there are some important values of cancer biology that can help us understand why pancreatic cancer develops. Factors that may increase your risk of getting pancreatic cancer include:

  • Obesity
  • Diabetes
  • Family history of genetic syndromes that can increase cancer risk
  • Family history of pancreatic cancer
  • Heavy smoking
  • Heavy drinking

Symptoms of pancreatic cancer may not appear until the cancer is in advanced stages. Sometimes it's too late for successful treatment. Signs and symptoms include:

  • Pain in the upper abdomen
  • Jaundice (painless yellowing of the skin and eyes and darkening of the urine)
  • Loss of appetite, nausea, or vomiting
  • Significant weight loss
  • Pale or grey stool

Surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer depends on the stage of the tumor. All patients should be evaluated for surgical removal of the tumor since this typically provides the best option for long term survival. A lot of times the disease is already in an advanced stage when the patient is diagnosed. Because of this, majority of patients are not eligible candidates for surgical treatment. If the cancer has not spread to any blood vessels, distant lymph nodes or other organs, such as the liver or lung, the patient can chose the surgical treatment.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy beams, such as X-rays, to destroy cancer cells. The patient receives radiation treatments before or after cancer surgery. The physician may recommend a combination of radiation and chemotherapy treatments when your cancer can't be treated surgically.

Chemotherapy uses drugs to help kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy can be given intravenously or taken orally.

November is National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. It is important to enlighten yourself as well as others about this devastating cancer. Unfortunately, the general population isn't as informed about pancreatic cancer as breast or prostate cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that over 43,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer will occur in the United States this year, with an estimated 37,390 deaths.

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