Pancreatic cancer is that type of disease, the number of deaths from which is constantly growing throughout the world.
The emergence and progression of pancreatic cancer is facilitated by smoking (in non-smokers this type of cancer is three times less common than in smokers), overweight and obesity, diabetes mellitus (the likelihood of developing cancer doubles), recurrent chronic pancreatitis, alcohol abuse, cysts in the pancreas, gland adenoma, heredity.
Identifying a pancreatic tumor is very difficult. The pancreas is located very deep in the abdominal cavity and has a fairly large size (about 15 cm), so a small tumor is hard to find on it. In addition, this disease is often "masked" by a stomach ulcer and gallbladder disease.
Pancreatic cancer is very dangerous precisely because this type of cancer is almost not manifested in the early stages and does not reveal pancreatic symptoms when a tumor forms. But there are a number of signs that should be feared and which should alert.
Pancreatic cancer symptoms are common and those that depend on in which part of the gland the tumor is located. In 75% of cases, the tumor is located in the pancreatic head. More rarely, cancer affects the body and tail of the pancreas.
Common symptoms (manifested in 90% of patients) include loss of appetite, weight loss, nausea, fever, general weakness, dull sharp pain in the upper abdomen, and intestinal upset. Often the first "alarm" is jaundice without pain and fever.
The manifestation of the symptoms of a malignant tumor of the head of the gland can be divided into two periods. At the initial stage of cancer, the pancreas almost does not show symptoms. The first sign is girdle pain, which becomes more intense in the evening and at night. Further, general symptoms appear, and also heaviness begins to occur after eating in the epigastric region. In the second stage, with the progression of the disease, jaundice begins, which quickly increases, itching of the skin appears, feces become discolored. The affected pancreatic symptoms are also the following: belching, loss of appetite, diarrhea, vomiting. All these manifestations appear because the tumor begins to compress the bile duct more and more. For the same reason, people who have cancer of the head of the pancreas are characterized by an increase in the size of the gallbladder and liver. If the tumor grows into the stomach or duodenum, stenosis or bleeding is possible.
A pancreatic cancer located in the body or tail of the gland is much less common. Such cancer can be detected only at a late stage, since jaundice occurs in only 10% of patients. In 20% of cases, due to the destruction of the cells that produce insulin, diabetes mellitus occurs. Tumors of the tail and body of the pancreas often grow into nearby blood vessels (portal vein, mesenteric and splenic vessels ...). When the tumor is localized in the gland, the main symptom is pain.
Most often, the affected pancreatic symptoms begin to manifest at that stage of the disease when other organs are already affected by metastases. First of all, the liver, adrenal glands, lungs, bones, pleura are affected.
It is very difficult to diagnose pancreatic cancer in time because the disease does not always have a typical clinical picture (especially with tumors of the body and tail of the gland).
A crucial role in the detection of pancreatic cancer is played by modern research methods: ultrasound and computed tomography, endoscopic and retrograde pancreatography, angiography.