Pancreatic Cancer: The Silent Killer

The pancreatic cancer is often tag as a silent killer due to its undetected nature until it's advanced and difficult to treat. Pancreatic cancer arises when the cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ that is located behind the stomach start to multiply out of control and as a result of that, it forms a mass.

pancreatic cancer

The pancreas plays an important role in our digestive system. The pancreas produces important enzymes which help in the digestion of food and help control the body sugar level.

There are different types of cancer that can be found in the pancreas such as the Adenocarcinomas, Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors (NETs) and other types are Acinar cells carcinomas, Adenosquamous carcinomas,  and Squamous cell carcinoma.

The facts about pancreatic cancer are:

•      Less than 7% of patients survive 5 years- it has the worst survival rate of all 22 common cancers.
•      Pancreatic cancer is the fifth biggest cancer killer.
•      27 people are newly diagnosed each day.  
•      24 people will die each day.
•      It receives just over 3% of overall cancer research funding: a total of only £8 million in 2015.
•      Pancreatic cancer affects men and women equally.
•      For those diagnosed in time for surgery, their chance of survival increases significantly.

Signs and Symptoms 

The symptoms of pancreatic cancer are difficult to identify in the early stages until it advanced, which makes diagnosis very difficult to at this stage. As cancer grows, the symptoms and sign start showing up, And such symptoms are as follows:

1. New-onset Diabetes
2. Depression 
3. Loss Appetite
4. Pain in the upper abdomen with back pain
5. Unexplained weight loss
6. Fatigue 
7. Yellowing of your eyes
8. Dark Urine.

What to do if I notice any of the symptoms 

If you happen to notice any of this symptom you should visit your doctor. But not all this symptoms are associated with pancreatic cancer, but to be on a safer side, visit Medical Centers for better clarification.

How to prevent pancreatic cancer 

In order to  prevent pancreatic cancer, there are certain bad habits of yours that need dropping and such habits are:

1. Stop smoking and if you're finding it difficult to quit, try seeking help. 

2. Try to cultivate the habits of eating a healthy diet as it helps reduce your risk of cancer.

3. Exercise regularly: If you're the type that doesn't fancy exercising it never too late to start. 

Note: Pancreatic cancer could be hereditary and it happens that there are some cases of pancreatic cancer in your family, try to visit your doctor regularly.

Treatment of pancreatic cancer 

There are different types of treatment for patients with pancreatic cancer and the five standard treatment are:

• Surgery 
• Radiation therapy 
• Chemotherapy 
• Chemoradiation therapy 
• Targeted therapy 

Also, patients with pancreatic cancer have special nutritional needs and there is also a new treatment which is also practised it called  Biologic therapy, where this treatment uses the patient's immune system to fight cancer.