Different Treatment Options For Cancer

According to Professor John Neoptolemos, "There are approximately 7,000 new cases each year - but it is one of the most lethal cancers." The main reason for the low survival rate from pancreatic cancer is due to its difficulty in finding this cancer early. By the time a person has symptoms, the cancer has often reached a large size and spread to other organs. Because the pancreas is deep inside the body, the doctor cannot see or feel tumors during a routine physical exam. There are currently no blood tests or other tests that can easily find this cancer early in people without symptoms. Tests for certain genes in people with a family history of the disease can help tell if they are at higher risk for cancer. There are some new tests for finding pancreatic cancer early in people with a strong family history of the disease, but these tests are complicated and expensive. Some symptoms of pancreatic cancer include jaundice, a yellow color of the eyes and skin caused by a substance buildup in the liver, pain in the belly area or in the middle of the back, significant weight loss over a number of months, loss of appetite, digestive problems including nausea, vomiting, pain that tends to be worse after eating, a swollen gallbladder that is enlarged, blood clots that form in the veins or cause problems with fatty tissue under the skin, and diabetes. If the doctor has any reason to suspect pancreatic cancer, certain tests will be done to see if the disease is really

When spreading through the body there are certain stages the cancer has to go through to expand. Stage 0. There is no spread.The cancer is limited to only one cell in the pancreas. Stage I: The cancer is only limited to the pancreas cell, but has moved at least two centimeters. Not yet visible in screening tests. Stage II: The cancer has grown outside the pancreas and may have spread to the lymph nodes. Stage III: The tumor has spread drastically making it now possible for the tests to detect the tumor,increasing the possibility for it expand into the blood vessels or nerves. Stage IV: The cancer has spread to different organs of the body.("Pancreatic Cancer Treatments by Stage") The first place to attack after spreading would be the stomach, then it would expand to the liver. After the cancer reaches these points, it travels to other places in the body. ("Treating Pancreatic Cancer, Based on Extent of the Cancer").

The indications of pancreatic adenocarcinoma don't generally show up in the disease's initial stages and are individually not different to the illness. The indications at diagnosis shift as per the area of the tumor in the pancreas, which anatomists divide into the thick head, the neck, and the decreasing body, finishing in the tail. Despite a tumor's area, the most

This is because the pancreas is located deep in the belly just in front of the spine. As time goes on these cancers cells being to grow much bigger and when they do, they start causing different symptoms depending on the location of the cancer within the pancreas, by the time symptoms are noticed, they have grown and spread throughout the body. Easily identified symptoms are formed when tumor is already large enough to press on other organs of the body, some of these symptoms might include: jaundice which is caused by buildup of bilirubin, abdominal pain which is caused as a result of the cancer pressing on nearby organs, lack of appetite and pale greasy stools resulting when fatty foods are not being digested because cancer blocked the release of pancreatic juice into the intestine. Pancreatic cancer sometimes press on the far end wall of the stomach making it partly blocked thereby making food very hard to get through resulting in Nausea and vomit. Some other symptoms that might be hard to detect include gallbladder enlargement which can only be detected by imaging test, blood cloth and fatty acid

The problem with pancreatic cancer is that it usually spreads before any symptoms appear. Doctors aren 't sure what cause pancreatic cancer, but they know it is more common in men, smokers, people with diabetes, and African Americans (Pancreatic Cancer, 2013). According The Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center smoking doubles the risk of pancreatic cancer. Cigarettes, cigars, pipes and chewing tobacco all increase pancreatic cancer risk. A large Cancer Research UK study looking at lifestyle factors found that nearly 1 in 3 pancreatic cancers (about 30%) may be linked to smoking. Cigarette smoke contains chemicals called nitrosamines. Nitrosamines are carcinogenic. They are found in some foods and drinks as well as in cigarette smoke. Scientists are not exactly sure why smoking affects pancreatic cancer risk, but they think it may be the nitrosamines. Stopping smoking reduces the risk. It takes about 20 years after stopping smoking for the pancreatic cancer risk to fall to the same

The long-term outcome of pancreatic cancer is extremely poor, the overall median survival from diagnosis being 3 - 6 months without treatment, which increases to around 23 months with resectional surgery and adjuvant treatment. Pancreatic cancer is characterized by resistance to all cancer treatment modalities and early metastasis. Surgical resection remains the mainstay of treatment for pancreatic cancer. Curative surgery is rare. Although it improves the otherwise poor prognosis, it is essentially palliative

Pancreatic cancer is when cancer cells form around the the tissue in the pancreas. It is located in your stomach in front of your spine. What the pancreas does for you is it makes the liquid and the hormones that help make your blood sugar normal. For the most part the start of pancreatic cancers start in the exocrine cells. Pancreatic cancer has a poor judgement that might happen in the future. It spreads very fast and not seen in the earlier stages. That is one reason this is one of the major cancers that leads to a lot of people's

This article shows a better understanding of what the pancreatic cancer is as how it attacks the body and becomes resistant to the treatments offered. Furthermore, it indicates of how there are possible ideas in treating this cancer, as how immunotherapy is still young in science. Additionally, the understanding of the immune system and what makes this cancer so hard to fight is still in the working process. As shown scientists are working every day to find the cure for this cancer that is there taking the lives of precious

When the common bile duct becomes blocked, bile can’t reach the intestines, and the level of bilirubin in the body builds up. Belly or back pain and weight loss are another symptom that are easy to spot and usually start early in the buildup of pancreatic cancer. Some cancers that start with pain in the body or tail of the pancreas can grow really fast and spread nearly into other organs which cause lots and lots of pain. When the cancer spreads to the stomach it can cause Nausea and vomiting which is another symptom which will make it harder for the processing of food or making a person have no appetite which leads to weight loss. Most of the times the first clue of pancreatic cancer is a blood clot of a large vein, often in the leg which is called deep vein thrombosis(DVT). The symptoms for this is pain, swelling, redness, and warmth in the affected leg. Fatty tissue and diabetes is one of the biggest symptoms for the pancreatic cancer and are usually the last things in the cancer that has been fully developed. Uneven texture underneath the skin is caused by the release of the pancreatic enzymes that digest fat causing this to become excessive fatty

Aunt Jackie, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She has lost 40 pounds within her first month after her diagnoses. She had a difficult time receiving and retaining any nutrients from food forcing her to become weak and sick often. Aunt Jackie

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Sometimes, if a malignant tumor hasn’t spread, then they will surgically remove it. Another method is the use of Chemotherapy, which uses drugs to kill cancer cells. They are given the drugs through an IV and radiation therapy is sometimes also used to further kill the cancer cells. Radio therapy is the use of high energy X-rays to kill cancer cells. Treatment is 5 times a week and takes 45 minutes for 2-5 weeks. If surgery is used to treat the cancer then if the tumor is in the head of the pancreas, then they remove the right half of the pancreas and part of the stomach and small intestine. This is a long and complicated surgery and takes 6-8 hours. After surgery, patients can’t return to their regular activities until over 2 months after the operation. Also a small feeding tube called a jejunostomy tube or j-tube is placed into the small intestine. A high-calorie liquid is fed directly into your intestine through the j-tube. A second tube is added in the stomach called a gastrostomy tube or G-tube. This helps avoid nausea and vomiting after

There is currently no reliable method for the early detection of pancreatic cancer as it has no clear signs and symptoms. The most predominant sign of pancreatic cancer is jaundice and this occurs most of the time at a late stage when the tumor size increase and lead to an obstruction of the bile ducts. Earlier signs and symptoms include mild abdominal pain, loss of appetite, weight loss and general fatigue.

Age, gender, and race; the risk of developing pancreatic cancer increases with age. Most cases occur after age 65, while cases before age 40 are uncommon. The disease is slightly more common in men than women, and in the United States is over 1.5 times more common in African Americans, though incidence in Africa is low.

Pancreatic cancer has 4 stages, and depending on which one is diagnosed to an individual there are different treatments and different amounts of chemo and radiation. There are also different treatments for each stage. The Whipple procedure can be used in all stages, but is one of the main treatment options for stage one. The other option for the first stage is a total pancreatectonomy with or without postoperative chemotherapy and radiation (Pancreatic Cancer, p.24). For stages two, three, and four, “treatment options include resection (if feasible), radiation with or without chemotherapy, and palliative biliary